


Where the Heart Lies

by Currently_Obsessed



Series: Where the Heart Lies [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Panic, Homesickness, Light Angst, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Pidge | Katie Holt Swears Like a Sailor, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-14 21:10:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 24,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10544382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Currently_Obsessed/pseuds/Currently_Obsessed
Summary: This fucking thing got deleted!





	1. Homesickness is Contagious!?

**Author's Note:**

> This fucking thing got deleted!

Pidge POV:

This was so fucking stupid. I can follow the glowing blips of their movement, but I can't fucking find out where in the fucking Universe they are? I so needed to punch a Galra in the face right about now.

I stared at the tablets glowing screen a moment longer before throwing it onto my bunk. I needed brain fuel. Hunk always left snacks for us incase we got hungry at night. I got up and walked into the hall. I didn't bother throwing on my shoes. I just wore my sweater shirt, shorts, and socks. My hair messy, glasses smudged and heart heavy.

I walked past Shiro's slightly ajar door. I heard him mumbling and giggled, thinking about our brave leader finally relaxing and sleeping.

I walked into the kitchen and saw Hunk making something that resembled bread.

"Sup, Hunk." He jumped out of his skin. He spun towards me and was breathing heavily.

"Geez Pidge! You can't sneak up on someone like that! You'll give them a heart attack!" He said, clutching at his chest.

"Sure sure, it's not like you can get scared enough at seventeen to have a heart attack anyway. Well unless you have a heart problem. Which you don't, or else NASA would not have allowed you to train to be an engineer for a space ship," I told him.

"Whatever Miss. Smartypants," He smiled before going back to what he was doing. I, on the other hand, rummaged around for the green food goo. When I found it, I got two bowls and put one next to Hunk. I hopped onto the counter and sat there and ate.

It tasted like a mix of peas, spinach and feet.

But since it was healthy, I wasn't complaining much. I played with it a bit before actually talking a bite. I ate slowly since I didn't want to head back to my room.

"Pidge, Hunk, why are you two still awake?" I heard Shiro ask. I looked up to see him wearing nothing more than the tattered Slave pants that he landed on Earth in. And nothing else. No shirt, no socks. I have never seen anyone but Matt shirtless before and that doesn't count as seeing a boy half naked.

Shiro though, his tanned shin was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, his hair, if it wasn't plastered to his head, stuck out all over the place. And his fake arm shined in the light. I had trouble swallowing my next bite.

Because, believe it or not, I actually am a girl. One who is attracted to actual boys.

I looked down to hide my blush. I pushed the last little bit of goo around instead of actually eating it.

"Pidge, I wasn't scolding you, I heard done one walk past my room and I got curious. That's all, you're not in trouble." He was oblivious to my obvious staring. Thank God for that.

"Oh," Was my response. "Well, I just needed brain fuel so that I could continue to look for Matt and my father." He put his flesh hand on the top of my head. I looked up finally.

"Katie, it's okay, we'll find them," He promised.

"I know, but... I just feel like I should be doing more to find them. All we've managed to do is form Voltron, fight a few Galra battleships, liberate a Balmera, and get the blue lion back from bounty hunters." I said, setting my unfinished food to the side and covered my eyes with my palms.

Shiro and Hunk sighed. "Look, that may not seem like a lot, but do you think that we would have gotten any more done if we had stayed on Earth? Besides we also saved the castleship and saved the planet it was on! Well, more like you saved us. I was on the Balmera, Shiro got captured, Lance was unconscious, Keith and Allura were out of the barrier, and Coran was with me," Hunk said with a proud, brotherly smile plastered to his face.

"Yeah! We've accomplished so much here. And you're so close to finding them, I can feel it," Shiro promised. I smiled sadly.

"Yeah, it just doesn't feel it yet."

I hopped off the counter and headed back to my room. God, I felt so home sick. I wanted my mom to hold me, to tell me it was okay and that they'll be home soon, safely and alive. But she wasn't able to even do that when I was on Earth.

Tears filled my eyes. But I held my head high as I walked, not giving them a reason to follow.

Once I was back in my room, I broke down. Not in the way I thought I would. It wasn't loud sobs that racked my body like I expected. It was small, continuous tears that flowed down my face. I slide down my door and just sat there, staring blankly at the opposing wall.

* * *

The next morning, at breakfast, everyone was quiet. Not even Lance and Keith were fighting. They seemed lost in there own thoughts.

Hunk kept looking at me. Shiro's knee kept bouncing. Allura was not eating and she was only feeding her little mice friends. She reminded me of Cinderella in that moment.

Lance ate slowly instead of chowing down like normal. Finally the quiet was too much.

"Will someone please say a fucking word!" I said. Spoons dropped at my profanity. Shiro wasn't even shocked, though.

"Pidge? Are you alright?" Allura said. With her accent, she sounded almost British. I was jealous of her if I was being honest. She was beautiful, charismatic, kind to all, and actually has a female figure. I, ever since I started training, lost the little hint of the curves to come.

"No I'm not! It's too quiet! I'm tired! I know you all are too! We miss our homes, family, we miss everything. And all because of fucking Zarkon! I hate him! I just wanna go home!" By the end, tears were glowing, and I was screaming. Shiro just signed.

"I miss my siblings the most. Sure I miss my parents, but my siblings used to crawl all over me. Play games with me. Hell, when my mother and father were two busy, I used to sing them to sleep," Lance said with had a small smile.

"I miss my mom's food. And her singing. She used to sing traditional Hawaiian lullabies while she cooked. It's where I get my love for cooking from," Hunk told us.

"I miss the wide open skies over Texas." Keith said simply. Not going into any more detail than that.

"Altea was always beautiful, and my mother used to tell me of its glory of the past. She was very wise. And too kind for her own good," Allura said, wiping a few tears away.

"I miss my wife." Coran said surprising all of us but Allura. "She was so beautiful. The most beautiful brunette hair, amethyst eyes, and freckles," He said.

"Shiro? Who or what do you miss?" Allura said, reaching over and taking his hand in both of hers. He sighed.

"Normalcy. I miss my tiny apartment on base. I miss my friends from school. I miss face-timing my mother. I miss my dog I left in her care. I just... I miss Earth." I understand where he's coming from.

"Homesickness. It seems to be contagious here," I said.

"Homesickness is contagious!?" Allura shouted. It broke the sad tension in the air and caused everyone to laugh.

Maybe we just needed to find a new home. One were we can make new friends, new memories. It will not change the pain of the past, but it may help us heal our broken, uncertain future.


	2. The Beginning of Something New

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I WAS SO CLOSE TO BEING DONE WITH CHAPTER 12 AND IT GOT DELETED! 22 KUDOS AND OVER 600 HITS!

Lance's PoV:

I laid on Blue's head. I heard her purring in my head. I sighed, staring up at the clouds. I knew I should be inside training, but I didn't feel like it, no one did. It was just too much at the moment, even with the threat of Zarkon on our heads.

But hey, that's what you get for tearing 4 teens and a young adult away from their home and families and expect them to save the universe. I closed my eyes and let the red of the light through my eyelids take over. I needed to relax every once in awhile. I smiled at the thought that once Zarkon was defeated, I didn't have to worry about it anymore. I could go home. I could see my brothers and sisters, mother and father again. 

I put my arms under my head and pulled my knees up and crossed one other the other.

I sighed and felt some sort of freedom in this little stolen moment. It was one thing I needed to do as often as they could. I smiled, thinking I was back at home, just working on my tan. Not that I needed to, I was naturally tan.

"What the hell are you doing?" I heard Keith's annoying voice say. And there goes my happy thought.

"Go away Mullethead. I don't need you to ruin my sunbathing session," I mocked. I could practically hear his eyes roll.

"Just get your lazy ass to training. Shiro has been waiting. Since he is the Head of Voltron, I think you should listen to me," He said. I sighed through my nostrils but didn't get up. If Keith wants me to move, he'll have to come get me. I am not moving. Nope, not at all. Actually, I got up, I didn't want to be on Shiro's shit list today.

"Good, now get inside and go get dressed," Keith said as I walked past him. I flipped him off before heading inside. 

"Blue, go back to your hanger, I'll be inside," I called through my head. She listened. She took off, causing the air around us to churn rapidly. Our hair blew in our faces as Blue took off in the sky. 

I put my hands in my jackets pockets before walking ahead of Keith. "You're a jackass, you know that?" He asked. I just laughed. "Shiro's going to eat you alive when you get inside. Because if he doesn't, Allura will." Okay, Allura was a bit scary when you get her mad. And I know first hand since I get her angry more than anyone else besides Zarkon.

"Yeah yeah, I know. Don't rub it in," I said. "You're the one that misses the 'wide open sky' of Earth," I said, quoting him from breakfast. He didn't say anything so I took it as a small victory. 

Lance:1 Keith: 0

"Just go get dressed," He mumbled.

* * *

As Keith predicted, I got my great ass handed to me by Shiro. And Allura wasn't speaking to me.

Not that I cared. Nope, not at all. She was just an alien princess that could kill me with a giant castleship. Yeah, I was totally over it. I mean, she totally looked hot when she was mad, but that's not the point.

After training, I took a bath in the communal tub. If I remembered correctly from History lessons, Romans did this too.

Who knew how alike the Romans were to the Altaen. I mean with the swimming pool sized bath to the attire, it was fun pretending to be a Roman soldier or emperor or whatever leader they had during different Roman eras.

I heard footsteps approaching.

 _'Oh come on!'_ I thought. _'I just want to relax a little!'_

As the footsteps came closer, I sank lower into the steaming pool. I just left my eyes and nose out of the water, so I can breathe and see. I watched the door, waiting for whoever it was to come in.

"Lance? You in here?" It was Keith. Great. 

I didn't say anything. "Lance? Pidge? Shiro? Hunk? Anybody?" I hid still. I wanted to scare the shit out of him. I held in my laughter because, 1, I didn't want to be caught, and 2, my mouth was still under the water. I was glad for the steam since he could see me.

I heard him shed his clothing and step into the pool.

I moved silently through the water. It came easily to me since it was my element. I saw him through the thick steamy air. His stupid mullet plastered to his scalp. He was leaning back and relaxing. I don't think I've ever seen Keith relax before. Or without his motorcycle gloves off.

I moved like a deadly shark even closer to him. I had a smirk plastered on my face. I managed to get within a foot and a half of him before jumping out and screaming.

He jumped and punched my face. I fell back into the water, defeated.

Lance 1: Keith: 1

"Lance! What the fuck is wrong with you!?" He screamed at my floating body. 

"Ugh. I think you broke something," I moaned. He didn't even say sorry. Not that I was expecting one from Mullet O'Tool.

I just thought that it might have been a nice thing to hear for once. "I'm not sorry that I might have broken your nose, you deserved it, you douchebag!" He said. "Never sneak up on a paladin. Especially the one for the red lion since it's more unpredictable and unstable." He said. 

"Hmph. Asshat." 

"Dickhead."

"Mulletforbrains!"

"That doesn't even make sense!"

"Does too!" 

"Does not!"

"Whatever!"

And that's how we spent the next twenty minutes. Arguing. Naked. Not that I noticed. Nope, not at all. 

"You are insufferable," He said.

"At least I didn't get kicked out of the Garrison for God only knows!" He pushed me. I stumbled back but didn't fall.

"Whatever. I'm outta here," He said. He climbed out of the tub and walked off to get a towel. For some reason, I couldn't help but stare at his back and ass.

I can admit, when I see a guy who has a nice body, that they have a nice body. And Keith had a nice one. And that made whatever argument I still had left in me, disappear completely.

 _'What the fuck is wrong with me?'_ I asked my body. I looked down and saw that I had a... fuck.

Lance: 1 Keith: 2


	3. Stupid Lance and his Stupid Face

Keith's PoV:

I walked back to my room grumbling about Lance. How can he be so smart, but so stupid at the same time!? I sat on my bed and put my head in my hands. His smiling face popped into my mind. 

Why? Why was it him of all the people in this Godforsaken Universe? He can make me want to hit him one moment but want other things the next. 

A picture of me pushing him up against the wall, kissing him breathless came to mind but I pushed it aside. I wasn't supposed to like boys. Especially ones that were annoying as fuck. But the thought of my tongue in his mouth was-

"Noooo!" I moaned out.

I needed to get a handle on this. I needed to. If I didn't, that little bit of trust and understanding that I shared with him would be gone.

I ran my fingers through my hair. Did he really hate my mullet that badly?

I went to the mirror I hung up by my bed. I held my hair up so I looked like I didn't have a mullet anymore. I sighed. Well, this is shitty. Now I'm thinking about changing just for some stupid person? A person who's ocean blue eyes haunted my dreams.

"Urg!" I gritted out through my teeth. I took my towel and finished drying my hair. 

Why couldn't one of us just have been born a girl? Is it normal for me to feel like this towards him since there are only two girls on this ship and one is too young and the other too old? Is what I'm feeling even real?

I just need more time to think. 

* * *

_I ran over to his unconscious body. He was so banged up, I didn't even know if he was alive or not._

_I pulled his head into my lap. "Allura, Shiro! Find the others! I'll catch up! I need to get him out of here!" He mumbled in my lap, then went too silent._

_"You sure you'll be fine by yourself?" Allura asked. I nodded._

_"Yes, just go, get Shiro and find the others." I tightened my grip on Lance. Once they were gone, I placed two fingers right where his pulse was close to his jaw. It was faint but there._

_I placed my forehead on his. "Please be okay. We can't defeat these assholes without our favorite asshole," I joked._

_I kissed his eyelids. His cheeks. His chapped lips. If I was going to lose him, I at least wanted this out of my system._

_"Keith?" His voice was weak. My head shot up._

_"Yeah?" His eyes barely opened a crack. "Lance?"_

_"I'm sorry," He said. "For everything. You were always a better pilot than me." He passed out again. I gritted my teeth and stood up. I helped him up and slung his arm over my shoulders. I needed to get him to safety. I had to. I could not loose him._

_As we rounded the corner, three Galra sentries stood in our path, blasters aimed at us. I sat Lance to the side and grabbed my Bayard. Instantly it turned into my sword. "Come at me, you sons of bitches!" They fired shot after shot. Many missed me as I ran. One or two grazed me, but I didn't feel them._

_I sliced through one held off the other. The third though went for Lance. I quickly slashed the second, then stabbed it when it didn't go down. I ran back to Lance but he hit me dead center with his elbow. I went down, breathless._

_I crawled towards Lance and my Bayard. I heard the click of the slide of his gun. I turned to look up at him. I crawled backward towards Lance still. I placed myself between them. He noticed this and still managed to aim at Lance._

_He fired._

* * *

"NOO!" I screamed as I shot up in bed. It was just a dream. It was a memory mixed with fantasy. I never kissed Lance, not did he apologize. Nor did the Galra fight me.

I fell back onto my bed and ran my fingers through my hair.

What the hell was going on?

These the thoughts only started a short while ago. Maybe two, three weeks ago?

It started with some stupid smile. One that made my heart speed up. It was when we were in the dining room, covered in the green goo after the food fight with Allura and Coran.

We were all smiling at the fact that we worked together to play fight with the Alteans. Lance and I were cuffed together. He told me something I can't even remember since I was too busy staring at his smile. But it sounded like a compliment and smiled.

I sighed and got up. I needed to go for a walk.

And hopefully get my head out of this funk it's been in since that day.

I saw Allura ahead of me. Maybe she'd know what was wrong with me. But then she sped up to stand next to- Is that Lance? What were they doing? What were they talking about?

Was it about me?

Was it about what happened in the bathroom?

I needed answers.

I hid behind the pillar close to them. "-And then he walked off and I had a, well, um that's not really the important part but I felt strange," Lance said. It was about me!

"Lance, I believe this is something you have to find out on your own. If you don't, then it will eat you alive until you cannot stand it. And if that happens, you might do something that you'll regret it for the rest of your life," She said. "I cannot tell you how the human heart or body works, but I can tell you that you can get scared about what might happen if you don't find out if this is real or not," She said with a smile. 

His shoulders slumped. "Oh. Okay. Thanks anyway." He stood up taller now. "Then there is only one thing I can do!" He said before running off. Towards the rooms. Hopefully not mine.

I took off too. I heard Allura giggle before I got too far away from her.

I slowed to make it seem like I was coming back from something else then eavesdropping on his and Allura's conversation. 

He stood in front of my door. Fidgeting. 

"What the hell are you doing? Your rooms that one," I said, trying to act natural. Hopefully, it lasted. He jumped at the sound of my voice.

"Um, we need to talk."

* * *

We both sat on my bed. "Well?" I said. My voice was even, but my heart was racing.

He looked away. His tanned face darkened as if he was embarrassed about something. I tried not to follow. 

The image of me pushing onto my bed and kissing him flooded my head, but I pushed it away. I needed to see if he either felt the same way or if I was even more fucked up than I thought.

"So, first off, I want to say that," He paused to swallow. "Oh screw it," He mumbled to himself. He pushed me onto my bed and kissed me. It was sloppy and uncoordinated. His lips were softer than I thought and his hands wound up in my hair, slightly pulling on it. 

A moan that I wasn't intending on making slipped between my lips.

I growled and pushed him off. "No!" I growled out. I pushed him down and held his wrists down. "You do not get to lead!" I kissed him. I crawled over him and pushed a knee between his legs. 

We laid there for I don't know how long, just kissing, fighting for dominance. Just like we always do.


	4. A Taste of What Could Have Been

Shiro's PoV 

It's been about a week since we all told everyone we missed our home on our respective planets. Keith and Lance seemed to be avoiding each other for God only knows why. Pidge was on edge trying to find Matt and her father. She was too young to be this stressed out. She was only fourteen for heaven's sake. And Matt made me promise to keep her safe.

Allura seemed less tired than she was from saving the Balmera. So that was good. Coran didn't seem as bubbly. Hunk seemed like he was trying to distract himself from whatever was hanging on his shoulders. What it was, I didn't know. Maybe it was him just missing his family.

I, on the other hand, wasn't dealing with my homesickness, I was dealing with the other thoughts that haunted my head when I had nothing to distract me. The thoughts that came back to me in only fleeting fractured pieces. I still didn't know all the things that happened to me while I was a prisoner on one of Zarkons ships, but if they were this damaging and this crippling, I hoped I never find out.

I was in the training arena, fighting the third level simulation when it happened again. Instead of fighting a robot, I was fighting a scared looking young man. Clearly not human. His skin was a light blue. Hair as dark as the midnight sky. He had freckles scattered on his face, but instead of being the brown they were on Earth, they were white. His ears were pointed like Allura's but he didn't have the markings of an Altean.

He looked like a fairy.

But before I knew it, the image was gone. It left me open and defenseless. My hand didn't glow the light violet purple that it did when I fought with it. The robot got an upper hand on me and did a roundhouse kick to the side of my head. 

I went down and grunted as I hit the hard floor.

I stood up and rushed him. My hand glowed brightly. I didn't need the distraction right now. A distraction can get me hurt. Or even killed. I dodged its fist and went for an uppercut. The simulation finally ended and I was left panting. I pushed my bangs out of my face and left the training room.

"Shut down the training facility," I called to the computerized room over my shoulder.

The lights dimmed and turned off completely. I went to my room and grabbed some extra clothing. I headed to the communal bathroom and took a nice, hot shower. I didn't need to worry about my arm getting wet since it wasn't like technology on Earth. It wasn't affected by water. I let the water hit my back and relax my tense muscles. 

I sighed. I needed to get a handle on this situation before it started to affect the rest of the team. 

But who was that fairy boy? Did I hurt him? Or worse? His eyes told me that he was terrified about facing me. Was it because I was the new Champion?

Most likely.

I was doing sit-ups in my room when Allura found me. "Shiro, we need to talk," She said. "I'll gather the other Paladins and head to the dining room." She walked off. 

I grabbed my head towel and dried the sweat off my face. 

Once everyone was in the room, I could feel the tension. Keith and Lance sat on the opposite sides of the room. Not even looking at each other. What happened between them that made them this awkward? 

Pidge sat next to Hunk across from me and Allura. Coran remained standing on the other side of the Princess.

"I know that you are all homesick and missing your families and friends. And since the Earth is in danger of being taken by Zarkon, Coran and I got to speaking and found that it might be a good idea to not only go home for a while but also warn everyone there. Even if they don't believe us, it will be better to tell them then to let them be unsuspecting of what's to come," Allura explained.

Everyone smiled and looked at each other. I just leaned back and crossed my arms. The last time I was on Earth, they treated me like I was a virus that needed to be contained. Not something I wanted a repeat of. 

"So who are we going to tell? FBI? CIA? NSA? Area 51?" Lance asked. Keith just rolled his eyes.

"Area 51 would only try and contain Allura and Coran. They wouldn't care about what we have to say. They just don't want the public to find out that aliens exist," He said.

"Whatever. If they interrogate them, then, with what they have to say, they'd have to listen," Lance countered. Oh please don't start fighting now.

"How do we know that Area 51 even exists?" Pidge questioned. Lance and Keith just looked at the small girl.

I sighed. "We don't. So we need to find out first before we do something reckless like give them our aliens and their technology," I said. They all thought about that for a moment. Coran bent at the waist and whispered something to Allura. She nodded.

"Quite right, Princess. Alright, I suggest that we send the Paladins to their homes first while we try and find this 'Area 51," Coran said. "But before you say anything. We will need the general location. Pidge, is the cloaking system finished and operational?" He asked.

"Of course," She said. "Did you doubt me?" She said with a smirk. Coran shook his head. I zoned out for a bit as everyone talked about who's family they should visit first. And what they'd talk about.

"How about you Shiro?" Hunk asked. I snapped out of it.

"Honestly, I think all of us should go together. Allura and Coran shouldn't be stuck in the castle just because we want to visit our families. If they use that chameleon ability that they have, then they can blend in. We don't want to shock our families right away. I mean, my family still thinks me dead. And Pidge's mother, she thinks everyone she loves is gone. So let's just ease them into this shall we?" I suggested.

That sobered them fairly quick. They all grumbled their agreement.

"Alright, now that we've gotten that out of the way. I think that we need be continually thinking about how to break the news about Zarkon to the rest of the planet so that we can easily cross that bridge when we reach it."

Allura got the wormhole up. "Now since we are all going through, we don't need to worry about a time frame for the wormhole. We go in, close it and when we leave the planet, we wormhole out. That simple," She said with a smile. But it didn't reach her eyes. I could see that she was sad. Not jealous that we have a home planet to return to, just sad that she can't do the same.

I hugged her. She was surprised. "It's alright, Princess. When we beat Zarkon, Earth can be your home too," I said. I felt the tears soak into my shirt when I said this. She hugged me back. I still wasn't used to her being smaller but stronger than me.

I pulled away and turned to my team. "Alright, everyone, I think five days should be enough to let our families know that we are safe. That gives us twenty-four hours each for our families. We will be starting with Pidge's since her mother is alone now. So we want her to be able to live normally again, knowing that her husband and children are alive. And that Matt and Sam are trying to be found. Next, we will go to Lance's." Lance let out a whoop.

"Then Hunk's, then if there is someone you want to visit Keith, We'll see them," Everyone nodded in agreement. Allura and Coran changed so that their ears and facial tattoo's were gone. Allura was shorter now, and her hair changed from platinum to dark brunette. Coran didn't need to change anything else, so they both looked human. 

We did the wormhole jump and ended up close to our moon. We cloaked the ship and entered the Earths atmosphere. We flew to North America and flew over the deserts of the southwest. We decided to leave the ship cloaked close to the garrison because we figured if anyone knew about Area 51, it would be them. They knew what really happened on the Kerberos mission, so they must also know something like that. 

We found the little house that Keith was staying in before we found the Blue lion. So we set that up as a good place to find a vehicle that wasn't from the other side of the universe. We found the flier that Keith flew us here in the first time. So we decided to have him and Lance go and get us an actual car. Preferably an SUV.

We had to wait a few hours for them to return. Lance drove the black SUV while Keith flew the hovercraft. They both were red in the face. I hope they didn't get into a fight again.

"Alright, grab your gear and let's go. Pidge you get shotgun since we need directions to your house." Everyone nodded again and piled in the car.

Pidge practically was bouncing in her seat as we pulled into the driveway of her modern home. It was two stories tall and white with light gray shingles. The windows were wide and let in plenty of light. The front door was a mahogany color with a lion's head shaped knocker.

Before we were fully parked, Pidge jumped out and ran to the front door. She knocked frantically and waited. I barely put the car in park before the door opened revealing a distressed woman who looked plenty like Matt and Pidge. Her eyes widened at the sight of her daughter. She would have collapsed if Pidge wasn't standing there.

We all piled out and headed towards them. "Hello Mrs. Holt, it is a pleasure to meet you," I said. She looked up and saw me.

"Shiro?" She asked. "But, how? They said that you, Matt and Sam were dead due to pilot error." I squat down and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"There is a lot of things that they didn't tell you about the Kerberos mission," I said. "Shall we?" I said, motioning to the open door behind her. 

Once we were all in, she had made us tea. "Thank you, Mrs. Holt," Allura said, ever the lady. 

"Please call me Colleen," Mrs. Holt said. "Now, please tell me if my husband and son are alright. And where Katie was this whole time," She said. She sat down next to her daughter and placed an arm around her. I sighed.

"We do not know where Sam and Matt are, but they are alive. Possibly on an alien spacecraft. One that belongs to the Emperor of the Galra. The Galra are an alien species that plunder and conquer planets with the intention of colonizing all the planets and taking their resources to further their power and hold on the universe," I said.

"The Galra are diabolical and will stop at nothing to take everything from those that we love and hold dear. My planet was already destroyed since we were seen as a threat to their plan. Coran and I are the only ones left of a species known as Altaen. The Planet Altea was Destroyed by Emperor Zarkon 10,000 years ago. But because of my father, we were cryogenically frozen until the Paladins of Voltron game back into power. And that's where Katie and the rest come into play," Allura continued for me. 

Colleen looked distraught.

"And it get's worse still. If we don't beat him and his army before they can beat us, eventually they will take Earth," Keith said.

Colleen let out a shaky breath. "And this Voltron? It's the only thing that can stop the Galra empire?" She asked. Allura nodded. "Katie. How many of those bastards did you defeat?" She asked. 

"Um, I didn't keep an exact count, but several fleets and their sentries," She said. I saw a small smile on her mother's face. "And that's not all. We've already liberated one of the planets that were controlled by the Galra," She continued.

"Good. Your father and I always knew that you'd become someone that would change the universe as we know it," Colleen said. Pidge's eyes beamed. "Have you been eating your space peas?" Colleen asked with a small, sad smile. Pidge's eyes filled with tears as she nodded.

"Good girl. Kick ass and save lives. But for the love of God, do not get yourself killed."


	5. There's no Place like Home

Hunk's PoV:

I listened closely to what Pidge's mother, Colleen had to say about the Galra situation. I could see part of where she got her fighting spirit from. Her genius must have come from her father's side. I smiled slightly at the thought. 

"So you were with Matt before he was shipped off to the farming sectors of their empire?" She asked Shiro. Shiro nodded.

"I had to injure his leg so that he wasn't forced to fight in the ring for Galra entertainment. It was barbaric," He said. I saw a shudder run down his spine. Allura reached over and took his hand. The not robotic one. She sent him a reassuring smile. Colleen took a shaky breath before smiling at him.

"Thank you. I know that you wouldn't have done that unless it was to keep him safe. You were always the heroic type," She said.

Shiro nodded. 

Then, like a whale call, my stomach spoke up, alerting everyone around me that I was hungry. I sent out a sheepish smile. Colleen just smiled. Ever the mother.

"I'll go get you guys some food. God only know's what you've had to eat in space," She said, standing up, Pidge still clinging to her arm.

They walked into the kitchen together. I don't think I ever saw Pidge that clingy before. It was kinda adorable. It left everyone with a sense of hopefulness. I saw Shiro had a small smile. Allura's eyes shone with a smile that wasn't even on her face. Lance had that big brother sort of "You look at her wrong, I'll kill you and smile while doing it" look on his face.

Keith had one very similar to Lance's but it rang out more of a "You look at her wrong, and you'll wish that Lance kills you before I get to you."

It was actually very funny to see two people that are supposedly so different, act so similarly. But I guess it makes sense. Fire and Water are opposite but complimentary. Water puts out fire which Lance does when Keith is either making a bad decision or is too hot headed. And fire evaporates water, which, when Lance is acting so full of himself, Keith does by knocking him down a peg.

I smiled a bit, thinking about them together. 

NOT TOGETHER TOGETHER!! But yeah, as friends they are good together when they're not fighting.

It's good to see some people that are like these two. They may not always see eye to eye, mostly because Lance is taller, but they know that once they are on the same wavelength, they are an unstoppable force.

Unstoppable force meets an immovable object. Maybe together they are the unstoppable force and the Galra is the immovable object? I hope that makes sense. 

And when they don't see eye to eye, Keith is the Unstoppable force and Lance is the Immovable object.

While I was lost in my thoughts, Pidge and Colleen returned with grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Yum! Real food! Maybe I'll cook for everyone some of my mother's recipes! I could make a mean bowl of homemade Mac and Cheese. One that's not from a box.

"Here you are. I know it may not be anything like from your home planet, but I hope you like it," Colleen said. When she got close to me, I could see how tired she was.

There were dark bags under her eyes that were covered with a thin layer of makeup. I could see the lines of worry that were etched into her forehead, though they may be smoother now knowing her family is alive.

"Thank you, Colleen. They look very delicious. And what is this gooey stuff in the center?" Allura asked.

"You don't have cheese on your planet?" She asked. "Hmm, I guess that makes sense since it there would be different animals and plant life on it," She said more to herself than anything else.

"Is it always in a near liquid state?" Coran asked. Colleen asked.

"No. It's only like that when it gets melted." And thus ensued the most complicated conversation about food that I've ever had the pleasure of being apart of. We compared fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices, and other types of food. Such as animals, grain-based foods, beans and everything in between.

I learned a lot about the alien ingredients that I use every day.

I couldn't believe it. It was fascinating to see how similar or different our diets were. Especially since we are very similar in design.

I couldn't help but smile at the thoughts of mixing the two. Earth and Altaen food! Yes, please!

Now if I could go and get seeds so that I could start a garden...

Soon we were all reminiscing over memories of the past. Pidge even told us how she came up with the Fake name she used at the Galaxy Garrison.

"The last name was the easy part. It was mom's maiden name. Colleen Gunderson. Now the First name was a bit trickier. I thought of everything that could fit with it easily. Hell, I even thought about using Colleen, but they would have seen right through that. Plus I needed to not look like me. So I tried out many different male names. Sam and Matt were at the top of the list. Again, they would have seen right through it.

"Then I thought of Matt and all the nicknames that we gave each other. He used to play Pokemon all the time with me. I mostly had the flying type Pokemon. If it could fly, I had it. From Pidgey to Charizard.

"He used to call me Pidgey because it was my favorite one. Eventually, he shortened it to Pidge and it sort of just stuck. No one in the Garrison knew my nickname except Matt's best friend. Shiro. It's why I was surprised when he didn't rat me out for being a girl.

"But he knew that I wanted you to trust me and tell you on my own, so he allowed me to do so." She finished. It was actually a sweet and cute story despite the seriousness of the reason behind it.

I mean, sneaking into one of NASA's Garrison, especially the Galaxy Garrison is a serious thing. How she managed it, several times, is beyond me. No one the rules became stricter. And to think it was because of a little girl, unheard of.

I smiled. There is a reason she is the green paladin after all.

I swear, it's like we're the space Power Rangers. Mixed with the evil Empire of Star Wars. Mixed with the advanced tech of Star Trek.

I told everyone my analysis and they all laughed. "You're not entire wrong!" Shiro laughed. The only ones who looked confused were Allura and Coran.

"That's it. We're bringing Movies and box sets of TV shows back with us with a TV and DVD player!" Lance said. "I can get that from my room. I used to have some of my own so that I could watch TV and movies without all my siblings and cousins crawling all over me!" He didn't even look sorry for having his own TV.

In fact, he looked a bit pleased with himself. "Dude, no one wants to hear about your alone time. Like seriously, I didn't want to know about your porn collection," Keith jabbed with a victorious smirk. Lance turned bright red.

"I would never watch porn on a TV! Especially with children who were still under the age of three running around in the home!" He said, looking shocked, embarrassed and angry all at once. Keith just snorted. Lance looked like he wanted to punch him. At least they went back to throwing trash talk instead of being all awkward about it.

Yes, Lance told me about the kiss, so what, he's my best friend. He tells me everything. Like the fact that he got to second base with Luna Kiel, the hottest girl in the Galaxy Garrison. Like seriously, how he managed that is still a mystery to this day.

"Will you two just fuck and get it over with?" Pidge said.

"Katie! Language!" Colleen said, not entirely serious. She had a proud smile on her face. Why she was proud her daughter had a huge potty mouth, I will never know. 

"Sorry, but it's true. I could sense the sexual frustration and tension for the past several months we were stuck up there," Pidge said so seriously, it was almost like a scientific fact to her.

Keith and Lance both turned bright red and refused to look at anyone. Lance found his shoe very fascinating and Keith played with his gloves. I wanted to laugh because it made so much sense know why they were avoiding each other. They may have shared the kiss, but they were still unsure about it.

"I don't see the big deal of you two fucking. We are in outer space flying giant magical robotic lions. I don't think they will judge you for a homosexual relation. I think they'd judge us more for being human paladins than anything else," Pidge said, pushing her glasses up her nose.

"Katie, you didn't bring your contacts with you to the Garrison?" Her mother questioned. Pidge shook her head.

"I didn't want them. It hid me better. Like Clark Kent and Superman. Only when the glasses are on, I'm Superman, not Clark," She said with a smile. 

"Who's Clark Kent and Superman?" Coran asked.

"Oh Clark Kent is Superman, but it's his secret Identity. His real name is Kal-El. He's a Kryptonian who came to Earth when his planet's star was dying. So his parents shipped him and his cousin to earth. And since he went from a planet that was made from Kryptonite that suppressed their power's, and had a blue star, to a planet that didn't suppress their power's and a red sun, he became a superhero." Pidge said. "It's a comic book. Not real." She added as a last minute thought.

"Oh, It's just a story." Coran sounded disappointed that it wasn't real.

"Well, It's getting late, we should be going to bed. We leave in the morning to see Lance's family," Shiro said to Colleen. "I'm so sorry that we are leaving so soon. I wish we could stay longer. But we're here more on a mission than on a vacation. We promise to see you again before we leave Earth. We'll get everyone together then, alright?" He asked.

Colleen nodded in understanding. "Just kick their asses for me. I would do it myself, but why should I when you all are very much capable of doing it yourselves. Just bring my babies home!" She said, lifting her head in both stubborn determination and utter and complete pride.

I've never seen Shiro so determined before. "I will," He stood and gave her the formal Garrison salute. We all followed suit except Allura and Coran. Coran put his fist to his heart and bowed deeply at the waist. It reminded me of the Attack on Titan Salute. Allura, on the other hand, curtsied, her now brunette hair falling forward.

"Kicking ass and taking names!" Lance yelled. "Ooh rah!" 

"Move out paladin's," Shiro commanded as if we were on a mission to save lives instead of just visit the families we left behind on a whim.

We all cheered and followed him out of the house and cpback to the car. "Wait!" Colleen called after us. We all turned andown tears were already streaming down her face.

"Yes?" Allura asked, concern written on her face.

"Please. Just stay the night." 


	6. A Day in the Life of a Galra

I had the scarf over my head, mouth, and neck. I wanted to be safe from the sand storms. The desert provided some cover for my resistance, but not much. I watched from the top of my rock. The cave system we lived in was vast and mostly unexplored. My eyes fell upon a section where the children play in the sand, building castles and playing games drawn with sticks. Their laughter carried easily in this wide open landscape.

I remembered my own children. One of which I never had a chance to raise. He was taken from me. I didn't know if he lived or died. He was so small when he was taken. Smaller than a normal Galra infant.

But I was numb to the pain of thinking about him brought. But that was many years ago. There is only one of my children that are here with me. It was my youngest. My daughter, Ki'a. Her featured were mostly that of her Father. She wasn't entire Galra. She was something else. A halfling that was frowned upon in my culture.

Her father, though, was another monster. Almost as bad as the Galra Empire I left. Not that his species week horrible like my kindred, but he personally is a monster.

"Momma?" Ki'a asked. "How much longer until they return? We must contact the Paladins. We will not win the war without them." She was still young, but a brilliant child. She was 15 years of age. I turned and looked at her. She wore similar garb to me. Browns and tans. It was mostly torn and tattered, but still usable. I'll send her to our tailor to have him patch up the clothing. The shirt fell to her waist in almost a tunic fashion. Her pants were tighter, torn at the mid thigh on the left and on both of her knees.

She carried her gun slung over her shoulder.

Her scarf blew in the wind, not covering her face. Her skin was mostly a tan color with spots of the Galra purple. Her ears were not Galra, but more like her Fae father, but unlike the Altaen points. She had three piercings total in her ears, one in each lobe and a loop closer to the top of her left ear. Her eyes were a dark purple, not the full yellow that a Galra bore. Most half breads Galra had purple in their eyes.

And they had a unpredictable personality. They listened more to instinct than what others tell them. It made amazing fighters for my resurgence. But the Galra thought they were hindrance since they were harder to control. I didn't mind though. They came in handy. The Galra under Zarkon didn't know how to deal with them, and the Druids couldn't control them like their... experiments.

"Any tick now," I told her.

She nodded. "Good. Should we send out the signal now or should we wait a few more days?" She asked. I sighed and pulled the scarf off my hair and face. 

"Yes. Send it out now," I said. "We need them as soon as possible."

She barked out commands over her shoulder in Galrean. 

I smiled at how good of a leader she had already become at a young age. If only my kind saw the asset they provided.

But that should how most of the full Galra ended up here. They broke the one great law of our kind. Others came because they disagreed with the way things were run. But the Galra weren't he only ones in our resurgence. We had Fae, Delhi's and probably most importantly, Alteans. They were the decendants of those who had managed to escape from a burning and war filled planet.

We also had a few stragglers. Like those where got in deep trouble with the Galra. We received two recently that claimed to have met the Paladins of Voltron. Many didn't believe them, but me and Ki'a did. And that's all they needed to hear. They didn't question my judgement of a person.

* * *

Later in that evening, just as the sun was starting to set, did they return. They were a group if scavengers that I sent out nearly a month ago and are just now returning. I could tell before they even reached the beginning of the cave system that many were injured. And that there were several that were missing. 

"Damn it, we lost more," I whispered to myself. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see my second in command standing there. He wasn't a Galra. He was a full Fae. His blue skin was spotted with white freckles. Apparently he survived fighting the new champion who was a human male. 

And from what Rolo and Nyma has told me, it's also the Black Paladin.

"It's going to be fine, Kalle. It always is," He said. I nodded. I looked back as a group went out to retrieve the wounded and help with the supplies.

My daughter amongst them.

I stood and made my way down to them. I heard Ki'a shouting orders. She was fussing over a young Altean man who was losing a lot of blood. There was some coming from a wound on his forehead that ran into his eyes. He had a gash on his torso that looked deep, but not to his vital organs. It went from his left shoulder to his right hip. He also had a splint on his leg.

The noises coming from his throat were animalistic. Inaltean. 

The doctor started to cut away at his clothes. We didn't even make it to the first cave before he started to shake and convulse. If we didn't do anything soon, he would surely die. The doctor got her supplies and started to work on the gash, cleaning out the dust and sand. She grabbed the needle and thread that she kept for stitching and sterilized them. 

"I need space!" She said. Everyone except me backed off. I watched her thread the needle and work it through the young man's flesh. They were small and close together. After she tied off each one the blood slowly stopped flowing. He had passed out after the first one.

She finished off the stitching and moved on to putting antibiotics and bandaging around his torso. She moved on to cleaning his head wound and wrapped the bandage around his head. She fixed the splint since it was clearly rushed in the field.

Pain killers were given to him. We couldn't give it to him before incase he passed before we finished since we only had so few medical supplies. It was bad enough we hardly had enough for every one to eat properly. 

Ki'a showed up behind me and I turned to tell her to leave, but the way she was staring at the Altaen was clear that she had some sort of feeling towards him. When that happened, I didn't know, but with the tears in her eyes, I allowed her to stay.

She slowly made her way to his side. She slid into the chair next to his cot. She unwrapped her scarf and sat it on the little table on her right, close to the wall. More Galra features made their way onto her body. Her ears turned into the usual Galra purple, with soft fur. They drooped, her shoulders slumped and her hands shook as she reached first his.

"Why?" She whispered, though I didn't know if it was aimed towards him or me.

But I didn't care either since neither of us were answering. 

"Why did you go!? Did I really mean that little to you!?" She yelled. Her whole body moved with her accusations. She fell forwards and her face burying itself in his neck. "Just wake up soon, Arin," She mumbled.

* * *

Later that evening, she wasn't eating. 

She was worried. And the others in his search party were all bandaged and speaking stories of the past couple months. The things they saw, found, or did. Nothing was left out.

I didn't need to hear all the death, sex and blood that went through that group. I scrunched up my nose and stood. I didn't want to stay there any more. I stepped out and headed to my home.

I unwrapped my scarf and hung it on my little hooks I had for my jackets and scarf. I went to my room and opened up the trunk I kept my things from my home world. Amoung them, my Military uniform. It was black with strips of violet. I remember receiving my first badge of honor. I remember my father being so proud. I remember fighting in the name of Galra. But that was many years ago.

I held the suit to my front and looked in the dusty mirror by my window. My hair was the dark purple and was cut to just above my shoulder. My eyes glowing yellow in the dim room. My ears perking at the slightest of sound. My fangs showed barely over my bottom lip. I was tall and lean.

I closed my eyes remembering what I looked like wearing this uniform.

* * *

_I carried my weapon as I walked on the surface of this new planet. It was different than my homeworld. It wasn't lush or bright. It was barren and cold. Far from its sun._

_"I've successfully landed on the moon Io," I spoke into my helmet. "There appears to be many craters from Asteroids and meteors. And... wait, hold on, there appears to be a ship here. I'll go check it out. I'll contact you, Sendak when I find out more," I said before stepping towards the primitive looking ship._

_I adjusted my weapon when the door opened. I watched in silence when a person stepped out in a space suit. The helmet covered his entire head and the suit looked to be far to bulky to be functional. "Reveal yourself!" I called out to him. His face came into view and he was different._

_His face was a cream color, and the only fur he had was on his head and chin, thought it be faint there._

_Never have I seen a creature like him. His jawline was sharp, his dark eyes sparkled at the sight of me. His hair was as black as space. "What are you?" He said with wonder, stepping closer to me. I steadied my weapon and aimed it at his chest._

_"Stand back, creature! I am a Galra soldier, I will not hesitate to kill you," I said. This was my first true mission, so I didn't know if I would be able to pull the trigger. He ceased for only a moment._

_"You're an alien?" He asked._

_"You're an alien too!" I growled out. "Now come with me and the Galra Empire with decide what to do with you!" I grabbed for my restraints, but I fumbled with them and dropped them. "Oh Quiznak!" I cursed in the usual Altean curse that Galra have adopted._

_I heard the man laugh. "For a soldier, you'd think you'd be more prepared to do your job. Look, no need to restrain me, I'll come on my own accord. I'll just let my friends know," He said. He whispered something into his wrist and then followed me. "So, miss, you gotta name?" He asked._

_I scoffed. "Do you?" I snapped._

_"Eric! Dr. Eric Kogane!" He said with a smile. "Your turn." I sighed and tried to remain as a soldier would._

_But I found myself saying, "Kalle."_

_He smiled brighter. "So you're a Galra, well, I'm a human. I come from the planet Earth. It's the only one in this solar system that contains Life. You can't miss it. It's blue and green with lots of white fluffy clouds!" He was clearly enjoying himself. But my ear flicked in annoyance._

_"So, what kind of Civilization do the Galra have?" He asked._

_"We are an empire, we control most of the known Universe. What we don't own we will shortly. That includes your home planets. There is no chance for resistance either. We are far more advanced. We've been doing this for close to 10,000 years." He looked horrified._

_"Do-Do you plunder? Murder? Rape? And destroy?"_

_"Yes, yes, no and when they stand in our way," But instead of saying this confidently like most Galra, my stomach twisted and my heart squeezed._

_"Oh God," He tried to step back, but I grabbed his wrist. "Let go! Monster!"_

_"I cannot help being a Galra!" I ground out._

_"True, but you can choose who you become! You don't have to be like them," He tried pulling away from me. "Urg, let me go!"_

_"Not until they know you're not with me, and that they think it was an unmanned craft!" I yelled, glad I turned off my communicator. He stopped then. "Who else is with you?" I demanded._

_He looked terrified. "Two others. The pilot if the craft, Aaron McClain, and my engineer, Douglass Roe," He said._

_"Then let's go," I said, drubbing his wrist and pulling him vehicle me._

* * *

I opened my eyes again. I squared my shoulders. If my son is still out there, I vow you find him. No matter the cost. I will find you, Kei. 


	7. Family Reunion Extravaganza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mi mijo: My son  
> Esta bien mamá: I know mom  
> Los amo a todos: I love you all  
> ¿Dónde estabas?: Where were you?  
> Pollito: It literally translates into Little Chicken, but is used as a term of endearment in the Spanish speaking countries. It is most along the lines of meaning cute, adorable or attractive.  
> Cabrón: Jackass, dumbass, shithead, bastard, ass, or Player  
> Lo siento: I'm sorry  
> Carajo: Fuck (As an interjection)  
> Chaquita: Girl  
> Idiota: Idiot, obviously.  
> ¿Te gusta Keith? ¿Quieres besarlo de nuevo?: Do you like Keith? Do you want to kiss him again?  
> Buenas noches, mi bebe: Good Night, my baby boy

Lance's PoV:

Sleeping in an actual bed, in an actual house, waking up to an actual sun was very nice. And more just a moment, I found that I could forget everything, like waking up from a bad dream.

I smiled, snuggling further into the warmth wrapped around me. It's only when the warmth tightened around me that I snapped out of it. I tried to sit up, but the tightness held me down. "Noo..." It moaned out. It sounded a lot like...

"Keith, get off me! I need you take a piss!" I said, pushing him away from me. But his strength just was far superior to mine. But it was strange, only the other day, I was able to push him away as if it was nothing. Why was he so much stronger now?

"Five more minutes Lance and don't even think about pissing on me," He grumbled. I sighed. 

"Listen, man, if I don't piss, my bladder will explode," I said. He sighed and finally, even if it was reluctant, let go of me. "Freedom!" I quietly cheered. He throws a pillow at my head as I walked out of the room. No one else seemed to be awake yet so after I washed my hands, I walked out onto the back deck. The sun warmed my skin and hair. I closed my eyes and turned my head up towards the sky. 

We learned yesterday that it was now midsummer, and we've been gone for four months. Which felt longer when we were in space. We couldn't really count the days, so we had no reference of time. 

I'm just glad that we weren't an entire year like Shiro was. Even longer for Matt and Sam. I wouldn't know what I'd do if I thought that my child and spouse was gone for nearly a year and a half.

I sighed. 

What if it was Keith? Ever since that kiss we were so awkward around each other. Why I kissed him, I still don't really know. Why he kissed me back was even more confusing.

I thought that he hated me, but that idiots stupid eyes haunted me. His gray purple eyes were striking and beautiful. His soft hair was amazing to run your fingers through. His hard chest was surprisingly comfortable and fit against mine like a puzzle piece. 

I groaned when I felt myself grow hard in my pants. Why did my dick think he was the best thing in the universe? But I didn't know what was better. Me fucking him? Him fucking me? Both sounded appealing. I sat on the steps and placed my head in my hands so I didn't run inside and jerk off thinking about him above me, riding me into the mattress. 

"Hey, you didn't come back to bed, why?" Keith asked from behind me.

"I needed fresh air. I haven't had it since Arus," I said. He sighed. I didn't look up at him, even when he sat down next to me. 

"I think we need to talk," He said. I nodded and lifted my head. "About us, the kiss, and what just happened," He said. 

"Yeah, I know. I don't know why I kissed you. I've never been attracted to men before. Which is so weird. The first time I found myself even thinking about that, it scared me. I thought I'd caught some strange space sickness," I found myself admitting.

He chuckled. "I've always been into guys. But I'm bi. Not just strictly into dick, you know, but I'd never thought of you like that until recently, too," He said. "But... I can't bring myself to regret it. I liked the kiss. A lot. And when I look at you, I want to again, and again." He sighed before continuing. "I-I've been having a lot of thoughts recently, and done are... not exactly good. Or normal."

"So you're kinky, so what, I like being tied up by girls. Nyma, when she tied me to the tree thing, I had thought she was being kinky," I admitted, not even attempting to make eye contact. Why am I admitting this to him? 

 _'Because you want him to tie you up,'_ My brain told me. I forced that thought away.

"No, Lance, it's far worse than even that, the thoughts I've had are... I should find them sick, and twisted, but I can't! And it's with you. It's like I'd loose control and just fuck you so hard and fast, and mark up your neck with hickey's and bite marks, and rope burns that I fear what will become of us if we ever... did anything," I laughed. He's very blunt. I liked that.

"That didn't sound all that bad," I said with a suggestive wink. He glared at me. 

"Lance that's just the tip of the iceberg," He said, voice turning dark and husky. I shivered, liking it. "I want to hold you down and make you scream, beg and cry. I want to see me above you, just pounding into you relentlessly, saying all sorts of nasty things to you. And it scares me of the things my brain came up with," He said, leaning closer to me. Were his eyes always this purple?

"So? You won't hurt me, I'm a big boy, I can handle it," I whispered. He pulled away, shocked. He turned away from me. 

He cleared his throat. "We should head in," He said. I nodded. 

"Yeah, okay."

* * *

We left shortly after eating. We had to practically pry Pidge off her mother. She was crying and clinging to her. I wanted to cry just watching it. We left a communicator with her that looked much like a smartphone. Pidge had another so she could face time with her mom anywhere in the universe. There was only one rule, Pidge had to be the one to call in case she was in trouble she wouldn't get caught by the enemies. 

We also packed some more of her things so she could have some stuff from home that made space a bit easier to cope with.

But once we were in the car, I couldn't help but feel a bubble of nervous happiness fill my chest. My knee kept bouncing, and I had the strange urge to squeeze Keith's hand. I couldn't wait to see my family. If only I had a phone to call ahead.

But I couldn't wait to leave my own communicator with my mom and dad. Now if only my brothers and sisters didn't get their hands on it and call me when I'm sneaking around in one of Zarkon's ship. 

After a while, I got a shit eating grin on my face that wouldn't go away no matter what I thought of. Even the thoughts of losing to Zarkon didn't make it disappear.

Two hours later, I saw familiar houses. There was Stacie Garden's home. I would regularly sneak over there for a make out session. I wondered for a moment what it would have been like to sneak into Keith's home and make out with him.

I saw my house twenty houses down, toys scattered across the lawn, and the rose bushes perfectly trimmed. I did the same thing Pidge did. I was out of the car before it stopped. I fell and scraped my knees and palms on the asphalt, but I could have cared less because I saw my mother in the window, watering her house plants.

I knew the door would be unlocked since it always was during the day. I threw the door open and yelled for my mom and dad.

"Lance?" I saw my mom, Josefina, turn. Tears were flowing down my face and I ran to her. We fell to the floor, hugging and crying. Little by little my family made its way to us. First was my 12-year-old sister, Verónica.

"LANCE!" She yelled. That caught the attention of my brother, Daniel, who was a year older than me. He just stood there as if a ghost sat before him. Tears filled his eyes. He fell to his knees, I reached out and grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him into my group hug. 

"I can't believe your alive," He whispered. My other siblings, Chris, 10, Maria, 14, and Gloria, 9, were all in tears surrounding me.

My father, Rafael, was even crying. "My baby!" My mom kept saying over and over again. "Mi Mijo,"

"Esta bien mamá," I whispered. "Los amo a todos," I told them.

"¿Dónde estabas?" My father asked.

"Space, I was in space, fighting," They didn't look like they believed me. "I can prove it. Allura, Coran, can you change back?" I said, looked over my shoulder at them. They nodded. And right before our eyes, Allura's and Coran's ears sharpened send elongated. Allura's hair went back to that beautiful platinum. And their facial tattoos came back.

I heard my family gasp.

"Mom, this is the Altean princess, Allura, and her father's second in command, Coran," I introduced. "And those are Pidge Holt, Takashi Shirogane, and Keith Kogane. And you remember Hunk," I said, smiling brightly at my other family.

"Wait, _the_ Keith?" Verónica asked, an eyebrow raised. "The one you wouldn't shut up about?" Her, Maria and Gloria all giggled. Keith looked at me, expecting an explanation. 

'Later,' I mouthed. He nodded discreetly once.

"He's cute!" Maria asked. Being 14, she's discovered boys are the best thing ever. I rolled my eyes. 

"Oh, of course, that's what you hear instead of the two alien's in the room," I joked, rubbing the top of her head. She just pushed me away.

Daniel laughed and stood up. "It's very nice to meet you all, I never thought that this boy would ever get off the ground, let alone into space. You should have seen how happy he was to transfer from Cargo pilot to Fighter pilot," He said, holding out a hand to shake theirs. Allura took it first.

"He is an amazing pilot. The universe should be proud of him. He pilots a blue lion. It's a piece of a super weapon called Voltron designed to stop any force in the universe Hell bent on its destruction," She said. Daniel's eyes bugged nearly out of his skull.

Everyone became really quiet then. "So... You're a superhero?" Gloria asked, her big brown eyes looking up at me. My heart nearly melted.

I smiled at her. "Yeah, pollito, I am," She launched herself at me.

"Yay! Lance is a Superhero!" She giggled. "Are you like the blue Power Ranger?" She asked. I laughed. 

"Yeah, we actually compared ourselves to the Power Ranger's yesterday," I told her. 

Daniel laughed. "How are you a Power Ranger, you're nothing but a Cabrón," My mother gasped.

"Language!" 

"Lo siento, Mamá," He said.

My team just looked confused at my brother's insult. I just smiled. I wasn't going to tell them. Carajo, I missed these insults. More than I thought I would. 

"I'm sorry guys, I forgot to introduce everyone," I said. I held Gloria in my lap. "This little Chiquita is my youngest sister, Gloria. That idiota is my older Brother Daniel," I said. He flipped me off. I did it right back. "Then there is Chris, my second youngest sibling. Verónica is just above him, Then Maria, then Me. There is my mother, Josefina, and my father Rafael," I said.

"And that's just those living here," My mom said. "He has three older siblings that are all off married with children, which reminds me, I should give them a call."

"It's very nice to meet all of you," Shiro said. "If Takashi is too hard to pronounce, you can call me Shiro."

"Can I call you Shiro-Senpai?" Verónica asked. I glared at her. I told her not to read those mangas. Shiro just laughed.

"Sure. I haven't been called Senpai in a long time," He said.

* * *

 Around dinner time, my mother made shredded pork taco's with diced tomatoes, purple onion, and cilantro all mixed in adobo and a little bit of lime juice, no cheese or lettuce. That's how a real taco is supposed to be. And it's on a soft corn tortilla, not a flour one.

The pork was cooked in a pressure cooker with smoked paprika (powder), cayenne (powder), diced peppers and white onions, and adobo. 

It was so good. Keith, Hunk, and Shiro couldn't stop eating them. Allura and Coran thought they were good but didn't understand the spice aspect of them. They both drank tons of milk. Pidge ate a few but nearly as much as the rest of us.

My mom just watched us with affection. "If only your Abuela were still around, she would have fed you all so well with her Tamale's," She said. 

"Oh yeah, Abuela made the best Tamale's in the world!" Dad said as he made another taco. "Not that your's aren't good, but her's were just," He made an explosion sound as he pretended his head exploded. Everyone laughed, including my mother and surprisingly Keith.

"I know, Abuela could out cook the best of the best," Mom said.

"I bet you miss her, huh, Josefina," Allura said. "I miss my family too. My father's consciousness was once uploaded onto my ship, but when his AI was corrupted we had to let go of him," Allura said sadly. 

"It's okay Princess, no one blames you or him. It was Zarkon," Shiro said.

"YOU'RE A PRINCESS!" Gloria shouted. Her eyes gleamed with wonder.

Allura laughed. "I am. I am an Altean princess from the planet Altea. Too bad I and Coran are the last of our kind," She said. I wanted to hug her, but I didn't know if that would be appropriate because we were all at the dinner table.

"So Keith, Lance told us that you were kicked out of the Galaxy Garrison, why is that?" Daniel asked, being a dickhead as always. Keith sighed.

"It's none of your damn business why, I got kicked out and Lance advanced to fighter class, that's it," He said, popping the last bite of his taco into his mouth. Why am I just now noticing how long his fingers are?

"Daniel, there is no need to be rude to our guest. He has his reasons, and he's right, it's not any of your business," My mom scolded. "Now, let's get this cleaned up, shall we?" She said with a strained smile.

* * *

Later that night, I was sitting on my old bed looking through my old stuff. My old soccer trading cards, my photos, my CDs, everything. I sighed and laid back on my bed. This room faintly smelled of my old cologne, and of dust. I heard a soft knock.

"Come in," I said. It was my mom.

"Hey, Mijo," She said. "How have you been?" She sat down next to me and laced her fingers together in her lap, crossing her ankles.

"Better now that I know I can contact you on a semi-regular basis. I just wish I was still in the Garrison so I can see you whenever I wanted," I said. "But with the threat of the Galra Empire, we have to protect you."

She smiled. "I know, but that's not really what I came here for. I wanted to talk to you about you. And that boy you kept staring at during dinner. And don't even lie, Mijo, I saw that look. It's the same one that your father gives me when he thinks I'm not looking," She said. I turned bright red. 

"I don't know. It's all so confusing right now. I mean, yes we did kiss. Once. Last week. But It's been so awkward after that. I don't know if we blotched our only chance or if we just need to wait it out," My mother laughed gently.

"¿Mijo, Te gusta Keith? ¿Quieres besarlo de nuevo?" She asked.

"Sí," I whispered. 

"Then just go for it," She said. "If you truly want him, then just go for it. If it's meant to be, Mijo, then it will work itself out eventually," She kissed my forehead and gently petted my face. "Buenas noches, mi bebe,"

"Buenas noches," I said as she walked out. But as she walked out and closed the door, I saw Keith behind her, carrying a pillow and blanket. I nodded and he made his way inside my room. My mother winked as she closed it behind him.

He slept on the floor as I slept on the bed. What happened the previous night did not repeat itself.


	8. A Little Slice of Paradise Shattered

Hunk's PoV:

The rest of Lance's sibling and even his cousins came just after dawn to see him. And as we were leaving clung to him so that he couldn't get into the car. It was cute seeing Lance surrounded by all the little kids. It made me want to see my family even more. I only had one sibling. She was Lilo. Yes, Lilo. It's a common Hawaiian name.

Okay, maybe it's because of Lilo and Stitch, but it's still a common Hawaiian name.

I picked it out when she was born.

Once Lance finally freed himself from the many tangled children and various adults, he packed up his stuff in the car and I could see him crying as he sat in the way back of it. I saw Keith trying to discreetly follow him, so I didn't mention it to the others. They needed to figure themselves out before they came clean to the rest of us.

I'm pretty sure Pidge figured it out, but she's not saying if she did or not.

Once we all piled in and were on the road, I glanced back to see Keith hiding their laced fingers. I didn't say anything about it.

"How are you holding up, man?" I asked Lance. He sent me a sad smile.

"I wish we could have stayed longer, but I'm better now, knowing that my family knows I'm relatively safe," He said. I nodded. I did a quick glance and their hands and told him with my eyes that it was okay and I knew about them holding hands. Keith just sent a look to Lance and Lance shrugged with a mock-innocent face. 

Keith rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I just can't wait for you to meet my Aiga," I said.

"Right, I forgot that you were Samoan," Lance said. I chuckled once.

"Yeah, I'm Samoan, but I grew up in Hawaii before moving to America," I said. "My family migrated there in the early 1920's, since then they have mixed with the native Hawaiians. So I am a mix between the two. Sort of like Lance. Rafael is American, right?" I asked.

Lance nodded. "Yeah, he was named after the famous artist," He said. "But it is also a common name in Spanish speaking countries."

"Human's are such a diverse population," Allura said. "Not even the Altean people were this diverse. They all just considered themselves one race. Not many races of the same species." Coran nodded in agreement.

"Quite right, we believed that we were all one in the same. No one was different than another other than their personalities. King Alfor wanted all of his people to believe in a commonality between themselves. We may have been across several different bodies of land, but we were never a different race from our neighbor," He explained.

"Now if only human's could have achieved such levels of world peace. We still war amongst ourselves because of religious beliefs," Pidge said.

"Yeah, but let's not talk about that right now, we want happy thoughts when we go and visit Hunk's family," Shiro intervened. Everyone agreed.

* * *

We lived in California. Close to the Beach. Whenever school had a break, we'd hop a bus and head there so we could catch some waves. I taught Lance to surf our first year into the Garrison. Pidge never went with us on these expeditions because she saw them as a waste of time. She said that should have been spent with our families because you never know when they could be taken from you.

Little did she know that my Father owned a shop close to the peer. One that sold surfing supplies. And that Lance's family used to go to the beaches out in Cuba so they sometimes come with us.

I smiled as I rolled down the window to smell the briny wind. The wind caused our hair to flap and tangle in itself. I didn't care but I knew that Allura might have a hard time brushing it later. I nearly laughed as I watched Coran's mustache blowing in the wind.

"Hey, Hunk? Remember when we skipped a whole week of school, pretending to be sick just to go surfing?" Lance asked. He laughed and I chuckled a few times.

"You shouldn't do that," Shiro said, looking into the rearview mirror. But I could hear the smile in his voice. Keith scoffed.

"You used to skip school all the time just to take me to the movies," Keith said. And just like that we started telling all the times that we skipped out on either school or school events just to do fun stuff. Allura said she had skipped out on her private lessons once to go to this festival that was being held in the streets.

"Wow, who would have thought that a princess would skip out on education to go have fun," Pidge laughed.

"I was about 16 at the time. My father was not pleased," She giggled. "Coran found me with the Earth's equivalent of powdered sugar on my face. I was also what you'd call slightly drunk, though we don't have anything like alcohol on Altea, just drinks with similar effects," She sighed at the happy memories.

"Quite right, King Alfor was, how do I put this?" Coran thought for a moment, stroking his mustache. 

"Pissed off?" Pidge offered.

"Yes!" Coran agreed, lifting a finger to the roof of the car. 

Everyone laughed. "Hunk, how much longer you think?" Shiro asked, turning on the blinker to exit the freeway.I looked out the window, out towards the ocean.

"Not long now, an hour maybe?"

* * *

An hour later I stood in front of my house. The California sun was a lot different than in Arizona. It was still just as warm, but it was more pleasant. More like home. But I might just be biased.

I hesitated as I reached up to knock on the door. Tears already started forming in my eyes. I didn't know how to stop them from coming. I always cried easily, even over the littlest things. I used to be made fun of for it, people calling me a cry baby and a girl.

But I didn't care at this moment because when the door swung open to reveal a small darker skinned girl, I just busted into tears and swept Lilo into my arms. Her tiny arms wrapped around my neck. She was crying into my neck. She hair was black, long and thick. Her brown eyes were large and bright. She was only about 4'5.

"Uso matua o!" She said through her tears.

"Uso laitiiti!" I said carrying her inside. "Where's mom and dad?" She pulled away enough to look at me. She looked over my shoulder. She smiled and gasped. She wiggled and ran over to Lance.

"UNCLE LANCE!" She yelled jumping into his arms. Lance was smiling ear to ear.

"Hello Pollito," He said. 

"Lilo? Mom and dad? Where are they?" I asked again. She thought for a moment.

Her tiny face scrunched up in the most adorable way. "Outside!" She slid out of Lance's arms and grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I looked over my shoulder at the others and sent then an apologetic smile. Shiro and Allura were just smiling in an adoring way. Pidge smiled and shrugged. Lance tried to discreetly nudge Keith to get him to smile and follow us.

"TINA, PAPA! HUNK IS HOME!" Lilo yelled again.

I heard things drop, probably a ceramic flower pot. "Atali'i?" My mom, Teuila said. Both my mom and dad, Loto both came running. My father was much like me, big and tall. His hair was longer and his skin was covered in traditional Samoan tattoos.

He just had more muscle than fat.

My mom, on the other hand, was more like her Hawaiian side. Small and thin. Her skin was slightly lighter than my dad's. Wear dad was over 6 foot, she was only about 5'4. They both wrapped themselves around me. Tears soaked through my shirt. 

* * *

We all sat at the table, we just finished explaining what was happening.

My mother held her head in her hands. My father leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms, waves of intimidating air fell off of him. I struggled to sit still.

I didn't ant to meet their eyes. "Atali'i? Are you going to beat them before they reach here?" My mother asked. I didn't know how to answer.

"If we can't stop them before they attack here, you better believe we will fight ever last Galra bastard that tries to kill any human," Shiro said. He was in a similar position as my father. They seemed to be talking with nothing but their muscles. 

Pidge fidgeted in her seat.

She was clearly not used to this much testosterone in the air. 

"Hmm. Then if they come here, I'll help you fight. I did some military service before I met Teuila. So I can shoot fairly well," My dad said.

My mom looked at him for a moment as if thinking he was crazy. He hadn't shot a gun since I had been born that I knew of. He might have taken it up as a hobby when I went to the Garrison. I looked at dad too. He had the look of a soldier. 

"Hunk, sweetheart, I know that you are far too sweet to do this unless you felt it necessary. So, do you really think that they are coming here?" My mom asked. I looked at every one of my friends. They all looked tired and worn down to their very core. They were far too young, we were far too young to carry the weight of the Universe on our shoulder's. But here we were, fighting to save those that we may never meet. Saving those who were not even under Zarkon's control yet. Saving those who have families, friends, lives. We seven insignificant children, basically, were chosen to save and protect the entire universe. Not just our Galaxy. No, no, every Galaxy.

How were we supposed to do that? Because I know that once Zarkon is gone, someone else, someone far worse will try and take his place.

Because that's what always happens. Take the Roman civilization for example. When Julius Caesar was assassinated, Augustus Caesar took his place. After Augustus, it was Tiberius. And sure Augustus wasn't all bad, he just was a bratty little kid. And I don't think that Tiberius was much worse than him. Now, Caligula is where it get's worse. Much worse. Like fires raging, nephew killing, kind of worse.

And if we are only on Caligula, I fear who will take his place.

And if there is someone worse than Caligula, than I fear that we may not be able to beat them. 

I sighed as I took another look at my friends.

No, we will win. We have to. Not just for us. But for everyone. I will not sit idly by, or sit there crying, as I sometimes do, just to watch not just our world burn, but every world burn. If Zarkon could wipe out a planet that was far, far more advanced than we are now 10,000 years ago, what's to say he can't do the same to all those who stand in his way.

Hell, he might even get rid of our planet's just to make a space highway. Like in that book I was supposed to read in the 7th grade.

I looked back at my mom. "I know they are coming here. It isn't a matter of if they arrive. it's when. And we need to be ready to fight them. And that mean's we need all the help that we can get," I said.

My mom opened her mouth, but before she could speak, there was a loud beeping coming from Allura. She looked around on her body for the source to find her little hand held distress beacon. She looked at it's screen and looked utterly confused.

"Paladins, we need to go! Hunk, we will help you gather whatever you need, but we need to hurry. I do not know this planet that is contacting us, but it sound's urgent," She said. We all stood up.

"Mom, Dad, Lilo, I am so sorry, but we need to go. This, this is just part of the job," I said giving them a small sad smile. "But I have this to contact you. Do not call me. I will call you. Sometimes I have to sneak around and this makes a very loud beep and if the Galra or Sentries find me, they will kill me," I said, trying to force urgency and calm into my voice at the same time.

They nodded once. We ran off to my room and gathered everything I needed or wanted.

We threw everything into the car and piled in. "Drive Shiro!" Keith said as he slammed the last door closed.

Shiro slammed on the gas and sped off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Samoan Translations:  
> Aiga: Family  
> Uso matua o: Big/older brother  
> Uso laitiiti: Younger/little sister  
> Tina: Mom  
> Papa: Dad


	9. Altaen's Never Die

Allura's PoV:

It took us about a day and a half to reach the tiny shack. I was desperate to make it back to the Castle of Lions. Coran was trying to contact those who had sent me the distress beacon. It wasn't from Arus. No, I would have known if it was. "Princess, they're just playing the message in a loop, I can't track it very well," Coran said.

It took us about a day and a half to reach the tiny shack. I was desperate to make it back to the Castle of Lions. Coran was trying to contact those who had sent me the distress beacon. It wasn't from Arus. No, I would have known if it was.

"Princess, they're just playing the message in a loop, I can't track it very well," Coran said.

"Then give it to Pidge, she might be able to do it faster than us, the technology here is far too primitive for us. We don't know how it works," I said.

"It's because you're technology probably is connecting to our internet on Earth and trust me, from getting used to your Wifi connection, this is the slowest this in the Universe," Pidge said, taking the beacon from Coran. "But I know how to strengthen the signal and bypass any middleman that tries to send it to any buildings which would send it to the satellites and then send it back to us. If I make this minor alteration, it should allow us to use the internet without a router. Since this car doesn't have a built-in Wifi connection, I have to connect to the houses surrounding us. And since it's jumping from one router to the next at the moment, it's a bit tricky to bypass them and go straight to an orbiting satellite." As she said this, she was opening the back of the beacon and started messing with the wires, hard drive, and motherboard.

She reached into her bag and pulled out the smallest set of screwdrivers that I have ever seen.

I watched fascinated with the fact that this 14-year-old girl is able to take apart pretty much anything and make it better, even if it wasn't from her planet. She truly had a remarkable mind. I knew the first time she was in a Cryopod that her brainwaves seemed different than the other Paladins. Stronger. More of the left hemisphere of the brain. The part of the brain that controlled logic, calculation, writing, and reading.

It was different from say Lance who uses both sides equally. He can be logical and in control, but he can also be creative and artistic. I can tell by the way his Motor strip is formed that he must play an instrument of some kind.

His motor strip is much like those on my planet that play an instrument that is much like a guitar on Earth. It is larger, though, with 5 strings made of thin wire like a guitar, but it's shaped very differently. It isn't round or has a curved body that makes it look like it has a waist. It's more of an oval shape with a long neck but that goes thicker the farther away from the body it goes.

I am snapped from my disarranged thoughts when Shiro comes to a complete stop and shuts off the engine to this vehicle. Their Earthly transportation is far different than Altean hover crafts. It emits a foul odor from fossil fuels. And are far slower and bulkier than our ships. 

I know that Keith had a hovercraft that the humans built. But they are still not as widely used as cars, trucks or other vehicles. And they are still a lot different than the hovercrafts from my planet. They use large fans that are guarded by tough metal grates that protect the user from falling in.

"Princess? Are you alright? You seem distracted," Shiro asked me. His dark gray eyes bore into mine. He was very handsome. Even his white patch of hair was beautiful. His eyes, as I recently found out, were almond shaped. It was interesting since I had never seen anything like it in an Altean before. He was also built like a warrior. Muscular and tall. His eyes held pain and sorrow from his time in the gladiator ring but also the concern for his fellow paladins and myself and Coran. 

"Yes, I'm fine," I told him as I stepped out of the vehicle. I tried not to show a blush on my face. His gaze followed me all the way back to Keith's rundown home.

"Keith, Shiro, I do apologize for not allowing you to see your families before we leave, I hope that you can see them soon," I said as I walked in. Keith sighed.

"I jumped from foster family to foster family before I was emancipated at 14. But then Shiro took me in when I started school at the Garrison. He never asked questions. He just left me to open up to him when I was ready. Shiro is some of the only real family that I have ever really known," Keith said as he walked past me, presumably to his room. I had never heard that story before. It must have been sad to never have a family you could call your own. 

Shiro put a hand on my shoulder. "He doesn't like talking about it. I still don't know where he was before the orphanage took him in at 7," He said. "I think he might have been homeless for a long time before being taken in." That might have been the saddest thing that I have ever heard.

"Here, might want to call your family, you may not be able to see them but you should at least let them know that you are alive," I said, picking up what I assumed was a human communication device. Shiro smiled and my heart sped up in rhythm.

"Thank you, Princess," He said taking it from my hand. I never noticed how small my hand was compared to his before. "And my house isn't that far from here so as you guys pack up everything, Keith and I can go and see them. It's just my mom. My dad went missing before I was born. He was a pilot too you know." I smiled.

He walked a little way away and typed with his thumb on the screen of the small handheld communicator.

"How'd you know about phones?" Pidge asked me as she continued to fiddle with the beacon Coran gave her.

"Oh, it just looked so much like an Altean communicator so I figured it had the same purpose," I said with a smile to the young girl. "It's called a phone here?" I asked.

She looked up at me and pushed her wire-framed glasses further up her nose. "Yeah. That's a cellphone since it used cell signals to connect to another phone. Then there are Telephones that use a wire and ethernet cable to connect to another phone," She explained. It seemed like the humans had to go through a lot of technical trials just to be able to communicate with each other over a long distance with such primitive technology and different materials than what we have. They rely on their own materials such as metal instead of the crystals that can be harvested on the Balmera's.

Human's are such interesting creatures. They'd never survive a Galra attack.

I sighed as I helped gather the material that Keith had stored in this tiny cabin. Hunk packed up all the engineering tools that were left scattered. Shiro was still on the phone, as Pidge called it. And pidge was still fiddling with the Beacon. After a while, Keith stepped out of his room and out of the shack. Shiro ended his call and followed him.

I sighed. "Do you like Shiro?" Pidge asked. I hummed a confused response, turning to look at the small brunette girl. She wasn't looking at me, but I could tell by her movement's that she knew the answer to her question already.

"And if I do?" I asked. She laughed without humor.

"Don't get your tiara in a bunch, I like him too," She said. "In the same way you do. He is attractive, I can't help it. Plus, I knew him before he got taken into space by the Galra. I only met him a few times since he worked closely with my father and brother, but it was enough to know him pretty well," She told me.

I smiled fondly, thinking how different their relationship would have turned out if they stayed on Earth. "Really? But isn't he a bit too old for you?" I asked.

"Aren't you a bit too old for him?" She joked, peeking up at me through her lashes. I laughed.

"True," I agreed. "But you're fourteen whereas he is," I paused. I didn't actually know his age. She raised an eyebrow.

"He's 19. He turned 19 out in space. He was 18 when he when missing. My brother was 17. He's 18 now," She said.

I nodded at this information. "I'm the equivalent to an Earthlings 19-year-old. The years for my home planet are a bit longer than Earths so Alteans live a bit longer than humans," I explained.

"That makes sense. The ticks are slower than a second. So I assume based off of that, and what you've told me, Altea must have been a bit bigger than the Earth. Maybe Mars' size. Mars is that red planet we passed to get here. That means that your sun must have been a bit bigger too. Since Altea supported life, it had to have been inside the Goldilocks Zone of that star for there to have been life. And since there was life, there had to have been liquid water, and oxygen. And given the fact that you can breathe the same air on Earth as you probably have on Altea, there must have been the same ratio of oxygen, carbon dioxide and other gasses in the air. And since the ticks were longer, that means that the rotation around its axis was slower and the rotations around the sun must have been slower to for life to have been longer for Alteans," She paused.

"Sorry, I got way into that," She said with a shy smile. I laughed.

"No that's totally fine. That's the reason you are the green Paladin. You are very smart, Pidge. Smarter than probably many people twice or three times your age," I praised. She smiled proudly at that.

She was a brilliant child indeed. Her love for science was remarkable. She was able to figure out why Alteans were able to live longer by just knowing what she does about her own planet and compared it to the very little knowledge she has of mine.

* * *

Once Keith and Shiro returned, we all boarded the Castle of Lions. I got the engines up and running and made sure that everything was secure. The paladins put their Earthly belongings into their rooms and made it back to the control room just as we started to take off. 

Once we left Earths atmosphere, I opened a wormhole close to the planet that was sending the distress beacon. The planet looked like it had once supported many different and unique life forms, but now was just ocean's and barren lands. It was a very tragic site to behold. I had all of the Paladin's suit up and get to their lions. Coran took control of the sites flight patterns as I got dressed as well.

"Remain in orbit, Coran, I will send my signal if you are needed on the surface. Only then can you land at the coordinates that I send you," I told him as I tied up my hair and grabbed my helmet. "I'll head down with Shiro and see you all on the surface," I said through the headset.

I made my way to the black lion and headed inside.

"Good luck, paladins," I said as I strapped myself in.

Getting into the planet's atmosphere wasn't difficult, but I didn't like the shaking of the lion. I now understood why Hunk had motion sickness. I clenched my eyes shut and prayed to whichever Deity was listening that we landed soon.

As if my prayer was answered, we quickly touched land. I tried not to show Shiro my distress and made my way out of the lion. I saw that the other's had landed safely as well. 

I took a quick survey of our immediate surroundings and saw that it was a desert with many caves. It was much like the desert we just left. But it looked far more volcanic than were we just left. The cave system was purplish tan than just normal tan of the surrounding desert. As I watched, several inhabitances made their way to the wide open plateau where we stood.

There were several different species all mixed into the group. Galra, Fae, Half-Galrean and many others. I also suspected there were many more kinds still in hiding.

"Oh good. You've finally arrived. I didn't think that you'd get our signal, Princess," A young girl's voice rang out. She emerged from the forming crowd. She had a scarf around her head and mouth, but I saw her purple eyes and spotted skin from where I stood. "I am Ki'a, we have much to discuss," She said pulling off a scarf from around her head.

* * *

"So, you were on Earth when you received our message, correct?" Ki'a asked. 

"That's correct, beautiful," Lance flirted. "I'm Lance by the way." He wiggled his eyebrows at her. She looked unimpressed.

His easy, flirtatious smile quickly faded and Keith elbowed his side. Lance glared at him. I just simply sighed. Ki'a looked between the two teen boys.

"Are they mates?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

Lance and Keith nearly choked on their own tongues. "Why would you say that?" Shiro asked as those two fumbled around for something to say. Ki'a giggled.

"Well, Champion, the half Galra boy clearly smells like the one in blue. More so than the others here. They must havery done something to smell more like each other than anyone else in your group," She said through her giggles. 

"HALF GALRA!?" Lance and Keith yelled at the same time. 

"Yes, I believe you are confused about the half Galrean statement," I said

"Like what?" Pidge asked, adjusting her glasses, successfully changing the subject. 

Ki'a looked at her. "Like kissed or even slept together. But may I ask why you're dressed as a boy?" She asked. "But dear Princess, I am not mistaken, as a half bread myself, I know a half Galrean when I see one. His gray purple eyes give it away," She said. "Please come with me, my mother would be able to explain better than I."

She lead us out of the sun and into the shade of by the nearest cave entrance. "So you're mother is Fae?" I asked. Ki'a laughed.

"No, my mother is Galraen," She said. "My biological dick head was Fae."

Shiro sped up his pace and walked nectar of the small Half-Galrean girl. "So, these Galra, they are not the enemy? They're the good guys?" I understood his hesitated manner. With everything the Galra Empire has done, I'm surprised he can even talk to her without trying to kill her.

"Yes. They are those who didn't agree with the Galra Empire. Or those who broke the one great law of the Galrean, had interracial relations that resulted in a half bread offspring," She said. "And whoever your Galrean parent is, Paladin, he or she is either here or dead. Those who broke the law either are executed or end up with us with their children." 

Keith looked down at his feet as he continued to walk.

We continued in silence and I got a good look at the interior of the cave system. It was riddled with holes. The ones being used as doorways or windows were worn down so there was no sharp edges. They also had torn and tattered cloths hanging for some sense of privacy.

I saw several other refugees. Many were Fae or Galra. I saw one that looked like he had Altean features, but when I looked back, they were no one there. I scrunched up my eye brows. That was truly strange. But I must have seen wrong. 

The refugees all wore clothing that were varying shades of brown and tan. Many had stains that were either the rusty color of dried blood, or the purple of the caves walls. The walls were a dark purple, more like the volcanic rocks of Earth or Altea.

"Now this is the infirmary. Be warned, Princess, there might be a bit of a shock," Ki'a said looking at me. I nodded as she held open the curtain for us. We made out way inside and a Galra woman sat on a little chair next to a young man that was-

"He's Altean!" I exclaimed, trying not to fall over due to the shock. "We're not the only ones. Oh my, Father must have sent survivors away so that I and Coran weren't the only two left," I clutched my hand to my chest. Shiro held onto me and grounded me.

Tears filled my eyes. I wasn't alone. Coran wasn't alone! A sob forced it's way from my throat. My other hand clamped down over my mouth, quickly being covered in tears as they streamed down my face. 

The Galra woman turned and stood as I continued to cry. Shiro rubbed my back and whispered in my ear until I calmed down enough to wipe my eyes and straightened.

"I apologize for that," I said, still drying my eyes. The Galra smiled politely. It was strange seeing such a sweet smile from a Galra.

"It's quite alright, your highness," She said. She surveyed the group. "I'm Kalle, and-" Her eyes fell on Keith. Her words were lost. She stepped towards him. "Oh my," She whispered. She reached towards him.

Her hands gently were placed on either side of his face. Tears filled her all yellow eyes. "You're just as tiny as your father."


	10. I Demand a Backstory!

Keith PoV:

The Galra woman pulled me into her chest. I was just shocked that she claimed that I was just as tiny as my father. Meaning she knew my father. Meaning...

"Mom?" I asked in a small, broken voice. Her whole being shook with a sob. I have never seen a Galra cry. Nor have I even thought they were capable of such ability.

"Yeah, I'm your mother," She whispered back. Everyone else in the room was quiet for a very long time. I was starting to worry about that. Not even Lance's big mouth said anything as he watched this unfold.

Ki'a was the first to break the silence. "Mom!? He's- He's your son!?" She yelled. 

"I demand a backstory!" Lance joined in. My apparent mother laughed and pulled away from me, using one of her clawed fingered to wipe away tears.

"I think that's fair," Kalle said. "It all started with my first mission," She began. "I met your father on his space exploration of the moon Io, one of Jupiter's moons if I remember correctly. Anyway, I was supposed to bring him back for questioning, but he started to freak out over the facts of my Empire I gave him. I took pity on him and his crew and freed them. Only Eric stayed. He, being a scientist, was very curious of the other being in the universe," She said with a little bit of nostalgia in her eyes.

* * *

_Past Kalle's PoV:_

_Eric and I sat in my ship as I flew away. I had already sent his friends away so that they didn't find us as easily. I tried to send Eric away too, but he was insistent that he came with me. Something about natural curiosity of a Scientist._

_I sighed as I held my hands over the controls. Eric was in awe over how advanced my ship was compared to his. He kept asking how everything worked. I tried to explain it the best that I could without confusing him further. But he didn't know how we could use the power of crystals to power everything. He said that they were just barely learning to use their own quarts crystals in computers so that there was more storage on the device._

_He also told me how they used a liquid metal known as Mercury to also power ships and electronic devices. He clearly knew a lot. But not nearly as much as one of the Galrean scientists._

_The look in his eyes was quite endearing. He was kind of cute. Like a Coralai. A small animal from my home planet that was usually a house pet. They had two tails with tufts of hair on the ends. Their ears were long and droopy. They had wide eyes that helped them see at night and their bodies resembled that of a fox on Earth. They were several different colors ranging from a light brown to a light purple._

_They were quite adorable._

_"So, Kalle, tell me more about the Galra," He said, leaning forward so his elbows were on his knees. His head tilted ever so slightly. How can a man that wasn't even of the same species be this attractive? I felt a heated blush rise to my face. I was glad I had to keep my eyes forward so he couldn't tell._

_"Well, Galra are pack animals. They need to be around other's or they can get agitated, aggressive or even deadly. It's the reason our Emporer keeps only a few per ship and the rest are sentries. But as bad as we can get, there is a lot of good too. We mate for life. The male's stay with their mate the entire duration of the female's pregnancy. Mates, both male, and female, even take time off of work to stay with their mates when they are going through their heat cycle," I explained._

_He nodded along. "Yeah, several species on my planet mate for life too. Like Crows. They are a type of bird. Er... they fly," He said when he realized that I wouldn't know what a bird or Crow was._

_"Even many humans mate for life. Though it's more tied through legality than anything physical. They do find love, and they do wed. But humans don't have heat cycles. The females have menstrual cycles, though. But the males don't take time off to help them through it," He continued._

_I smiled. What an amusing creature, I thought._

'What an amusing creature,' _I thought._

_"Yeah?" I asked. "That is just cruel. Menstrual cycles are very painful and can cause discomfort," I told him. He laughed._

_"It's so strange talking about something that's should be so awkward with a female. And a female that's not even the same species as I am!" He laughed. I chuckled. I was glad that he finally went back to his easy going nature instead of that fearful one that I saw earlier._

_"I think that's why it's easy to talk about," I mused._

_He agreed._

_We fell into an easy silence._

_I watched my screens as a red blip started to follow us. "Quiznak!" I cursed in a whisper. 'How did they find me so quickly!?'_

_I tried to make it so they couldn't detect Eric in my ship. "Kalle!" Sendak's face appeared on my screen. "I didn't hear back from you. And you left the small moon, did anything happen?" He hadn't noticed Eric yet._

_Eric slumped down and slid onto the floor. He must have sensed my worry and discomfort. "No, Sendak nothing was on the ship. It appeared to have been unmanned. Because when I took a look inside, I didn't see anyone and it started to take off with me still inside. I quickly got out and got off that moon so that if there was someone that was tracking it, they wouldn't track me either. We still haven't revealed ourselves to the human's so I didn't want them to grow suspicious," I lied._

_He nodded. "Good. But you forgot to contact me afterward," He said. I nodded._

_"I apologize Sendak. I was more worried about getting out of there than reporting back. It won't happen again," Yeah, because I am never going to talk to you again if I can help it._

_"Vrepit sa," He said,_

_"Vrepit sa," I repeated before ending the transmission._

_Eric looked up at me from his spot on the floor. "Is it safe?" He asked. I nodded. "Good."_

_With his helmet off, I saw the little scar that was going through his eyebrow. It was strangely attractive. I resisted the urge to touch it._

_"So who was that?" He asked, sitting back in his chair._

_I sighed. "That was my commanding officer, Sendak," I asked._

_"Well, he sounded like a Sendick," He laughed at his own insult. But I didn't understand it. "Oh, we call each other dicks if they are mean, jerks, or worse," He explained. I was still confused._

_"It's slang for male genitalia," He further explained. I nodded._

_"Ah, I see," I replied._

_He laughed. "We also call people dickheads, shitheads, fuckers, bitches, assholes, cunts, pussies and several other things," He said. He then told me what they all mean and where they came from._

_"That... was educational," I said with a small smile._

_"You are the most beautiful creature in the world," He said out of the blue._

_"You're brave, or just stupid," I said. His smile just grew._

_"Why would you say that?" He questioned._

_I sighed. "Interspecies relations are strictly forbidden. We both could get executed. Especially if we were to bear an offspring," I explained._

_His eyes widened. "Whoa! I was just flirting, that has nothing to do with having kids!" He explained._

_I eyed him suspiciously. "You weren't trying to court me?" I asked._

_"Flirting can eventually lead to a relationship, I guess, but many people do it for fun too," He said, holding his hands up in defense._

_"So human's think it fun to play with a person's emotions?" I said. "And I thought my species were bad," I scoffed._

_We sat in a tense silence now. He seemed to be warring with himself to say something. I peeked at him through the corner of my eye. He was chewing on his lip. A nervous tick maybe?_

_Did all human's get this silent when they are accused of something?_

_I sure hoped not or else we would lose everything to such a primitive species. Zarkon would not like that. I couldn't help but feel a little bit smug about Zarkon looking his "shit" over a tiny insignificant planet. I felt the corner's of my lips tipping up into a smug smirk. I held in the laughter that was daring to come loose over the mental image of Zarkon screaming and throwing a temper tantrum over such a tiny planet._

_"What's so funny?" Eric laughed._

_I questioned whether I should tell him or not. In the end, I told him. He thought it was funny and I could no longer hold in my laughter either so we sat there for a good 60 ticks just laughing. We were laughing so hard that we ended up having to wipe away tears._

_"You have a really pretty laugh," He said, the easy smile back on his face._

_I blushed a deep purple. "Thank you," I said, sounding too formal._

_"Not used to compliments?" He asked. I shook my head. "That's okay. I'm just surprised that once you lose your 'Oh I'm such a bad ass soldier chick, fear me!' act, you are surprisingly much like a human woman. Susceptible to my manly charm," He joked._

_I sighed. "Are you still trying to court me, even with your impending doom?" I asked with a smirk. He smirked right back._

_"Maybe," I rolled my eyes._

_"You are unbelievable, you know that?" I asked him._

_He just answered with a little twist to the side of his head, smirk still on his face. I laughed again._

_The ship that was following us was no longer there and I didn't receive any more transmissions from Sendak. I sat there thinking about my family back at home. I wasn't mated, but my boyfriend I did have two kids together. But those were not of our choice. It was chosen for us so that they could be raised as future soldiers._

_How would Eric feel about that?_

_Wait, why should I care how he feels about this? He isn't of my species. Plus I barely know him. I rubbed my temples as a stress headache formed._

_"My god did this just so much more complicated," I said._

_"Hmm?" Eric hummed._

_"I have a boyfriend and twins at home," I told him._

_He looked away. "Oh, do you love him?" He asked._

_I sighed as I thought about the question. I cared for my offspring, and I did once have feelings for Raen, but... I don't know anymore. After the twins were born, he changed._

_"I don't know anymore. I love my children, but I don't know about him. He needs his mate. But we are not mated. We were going to mate before I was forced into the military and forced to bear his children. That's one thing about Galra you need to know, do not force two unmated Galrean's to have children. That will only want them to mate even more. And two incompatible Galra should not mate. And when you have the situation like I am in, the male Galra tends to become far more... aggressive," I told him._

_I remembered when he first struck me. He was apologetic for it, but it only got worse from there. That's why I took this mission. I didn't want to be near him any longer._

_"Well, then, why don't you just leave?" He asked in a soothing voice._

_I sighed._

_He didn't know anything about my culture._

_"It's not that simple. The only way that I could leave him is if I find my true mate," I said. "Mates are different. You can feel like you can tell them anything right off the bat," Just like you. "They release a pheromone that you can just tell is compatible with your own." I can't smell your true scent with that 'cologne' that you claim your wearing. But it still smells so good._

_"Oh," He was quiet for a long time. I was starting to worry about what he was going to say about it._

_"Um... Kalle?" He asked. I looked over at him._

_"Is there any possibility that we might, you know, be mates?" I nearly spun around and smacked him for saying such nonsense._

_But, but it did make some sense. It's why I felt bad for being what I am. It was why I wanted to keep him away from every other Galra. It's why I did something so stupid next._

_I kissed him._

* * *

_It had been months since I escaped the Galra Empire with my human mate. We didn't officially mate yet, but we knew deep down that this was the most real thing in the entire known universe. I even took my two children and went to the supposedly deserted planet, Harel. But it was used as a refugee camp._

_We were easily taken in. There were other Galra here. There were also Fae and even Alteans! I couldn't believe that they were still alive and living right under our noses._

_Zarkon was going to be pissed off if he finds out._

_"Mom?" My son Vaul asked. "Are they going to find us here?" He asked._

_I turned to face him._

_"Of course not!" I said. "Now go get your sister and your father, it's dinner time," He nodded and ran off. Vaul and Lae both took an immediate liking to Eric._

_We all ate in silence and Eric and I did the dishes together. He made two rings out of both metal from my ship and crystal that wasn't being used in my ship._

_Only my ring had a crystal. It was beautiful._

_He said it would make things feel official to him. He said this is how people asked for the other to marry him. I nearly cried._

_"Hey, I have something to show you," He said right in my ear. I smirked._

* * *

_Shortly after that, we mated. Officially. Since he was human, I had to mark him. It was a simple process really. We had sex and I bite his neck. It doesn't hurt for very long._

_A week after, the morning sickness started. I was pregnant. I was both ecstatic and scared at the same time. If Sendak or Zarkon found out, I would surely be killed._

_And since I was pregnant, Eric, the twin and I had to get supplies. Supplies that we didn't have on this planet. We were quickly compromised and attacked. I sent Eric and the twins away but I was captured._

_I spent my entire duration of pregnancy in a cell. Chained to a wall._

_Once I gave birth, I was put on trial. But during the trial, the ship was attacked. I was hit on the head and was dragged away. Eric had put together a rescue team, but they couldn't do much until they could scrounge up enough weapons to fight._

_He put me in an escape pod with my newborn baby boy. He looked human. He was so small._

_"Kei," I said. Kei Kogane should be his name. It's Galrean and Human. He need's to know his heritage._

_"Kalle, we need to go now!" Eric said, fiddling with the controls. "I'll get you guys back to Harel!" He had determination in his eyes._

_"No, they will follow me. You need to take Kei to Earth. I'll lead them away. I will find you!" I said. I kissed him one last time and handed him Kei._

_I grabbed the gun that Eric had and ran out of the escape pod and into the fight. I closed the door and locked it. I walked out of the airlock and closed the door behind me. I slammed my fist onto the button that opened into the depth of space and didn't look back as the escape pod took off._

_I saw my two children fighting even. They were too young to be fighting a losing war. I fought with a vigor that I had never had when I was a soldier._

_In the midst of battle, both the twins were shot and killed as far as I knew._

* * *

Present Keith PoV:

"I barely managed to escape. I didn't make it to Earth, I crashed on Harel, and since we had so little materials, I had spent the next 17 years trying to fix up my ship to find you, Kei," She said with the most heartbroken expression I had ever seen on any creature.

She pulled me into her chest again and buried her face in my hair. "My baby, I am so sorry," She whispered. "I wish that I could have found you sooner. Tears fell down my face and I wrapped my arms around her.

"It's not your fault," I said. "It's just another fucked up thing that Zarkon did."

She chuckled once through her tears. "You're damn right." 

We stayed like that for a long time. And I didn't care if I was seen crying. I didn't care that I was hugging a Galra. I didn't fucking care one damn bit.


	11. Kei, Keith, Ka'i, Kalle

Pidge's PoV:

I thought it was sweet that Keith found that he had a mother that was alive and a sister. I was jealous. But I was also happy for him. 

"Okay, as touching as this fucking moment is, can we move on to the fact that Keith is half Galra and what it has to do with Lance?" I asked, adjusting my glasses. 

"Language, Katie," Shiro warned, using my real name. I sighed.

Kalle just smiled. "Of course. Well, Kei is not old enough to go into his first heat, but you don't need to go into heat to find your mate. Now unlike human's, Galra do not believe in soul mates. You can have several mates in your lifetime if the previous passes," She explained. 

"Okay, so how do I fit in this?" Lance asked. 

"Kei chose you. You were compatible with him. Even if you two fight a lot, which happens when a half bread has a mate, you keep him level headed. Make sure he doesn't get himself killed. You calm him, even if you're the reason for his anger. Your yin to his yang, so to speak," She said. 

"Yes," Allura agreed. "In the past, the Red and Blue Paladins were... closer than the rest of the Paladins. They were generally lovers, family members, or even very close friends," She explained.

"It does make sense that you're fire and ice," Hunk said.

Keith looked confused still. "But what is the most confusing is the heat cycle that you spoke about," He said.

Kalle smiled. "Oh, that? That's what usually happens when Galra males and females mate to try and bear offspring. It affects both genders differently. And it affects the halfbreeds, male and female differently," She said.

"The full Galra males get possessive and aggressive. Halfbreed males become possessive and not so much aggressive, but-"

"Kinky?" Lance said with a smirk. Ew, Lance, now's not the right time, for fuck sake!

"Not even that, they become easily jealous and will not let their mates out of their sites," Kalle said. "But I have heard that both halfbreeds and full Galra can get that way." Did not need that mental scar.

"Now Full Galra females become clingy. Halfbreed females are also clingy, but not as bad as a full Galra," She continued. 

We all nodded, but we took the information differently. Hunk looked uncomfortable. Allura looked intrigued to learn more about her enemy. Shiro looked a bit embarrassed, possibly because he got a mental image of Lance and Keith going at it. Lance and Keith wouldn't look at each other and both sported dark blushed on their faces, necks, and ears.

I just wanted to have a frontal lobotomy so that I no longer had to deal with this information.

"Can we not talk about this anymore?" Keith asked.

Kalle smiled. "Oh course, Kei," She said. Ki'a moved closer to her mother.

"So, I have an older brother now?" She asked, eying Keith. Keith just looked bored looking at her.

Kalle sighed. "Yes. Kei is your older brother, Ki'a," She said. Ki'a moved to stand in front of Keith. I couldn't see what face she was making but by the way that Keith raised his eyebrow, it must have been a scowl of some type.

Suddenly, Ki'a wrapped her arms around him. Keith was shocked, to say the least. "It's good that your back, Kei," She said. "Or do you prefer Keith?" She asked.

"Honestly, I prefer Keith, but you can still call me Kei if you want to since it appears to be my real name," He said.

"Okay, Keith it is," Ki'a said, pulling away from him.

Lance smiled at the scene. He does have several siblings, so seeing a brother and sister unite after never meeting each other in their lives was a sweet moment.

"So, what seems to be the problem?" Allura asked. "Clearly you called us for some important reason," She said. 

Kalle nodded. "Yes, we were running dangerously low on medical supplies, food, and water. In the last 100 years, this place had been a refugee. I came here 17 years ago, just after Kei, sorry, Keith was born. I took leadership three years later," She explained. Hunk started to tear up. "We are slowly starving, dying. We have no allies and dwindling hope. We heard you were back and knew that you could help."

She turned to address Allura. "Please Princess, we have children here. Elderly. Sick. We are in dire need of your help!" To hear a Galra beg for help was interesting. Even a bit fucked up. Not that I'd say that out loud.

Allura straightened. She was in diplomat mode. "Kalle, of course, we will help you. You may be a Galra,  but we help everyone in need. The Paladins of Voltron are not just here to defeat Zarkon and the Galra Empire,  but they act as diplomats and missionaries to help those in need," She said. "I'll contact Coran and tell him to land the Castle of Lions and we'll get you medicine, food, and water. You will not need to worry much longer."

She always seemed to have a sense of calm and authority when she speaks to those she's helping. I could never do that. I sweat a lot, and my voice becomes squeaky. And I seem to talk a lot when it comes to things that I'm knowledgeable in. It was mostly a nervous tick.

The only ones who didn't mind were my dad, Matt, and Shiro. I didn't know about the others.

"Thank you, Princess. For everything," Kalle said. She looked over her shoulder to the young Altean man who had stitching across his chest from his shoulder to hip. "This is Arin. Ki'a and him, I believe, are mates. He was injured in a scavenge a few days ago," She said. "They found nothing but a few surviving Svetlai, desert creatures that are native to this planet."

Shiro stepped forward. "How dangerous are they?" He asked. Kalle looked at him.

"Just as dangerous as your crocodiles or lions. As long as you leave them be, and they are not starving, you should be safe," She explained. Ki'a walked over to the young man, Arin and sat in the chair her mother did. I absentmindedly thought about how a Galra and an Altean could fall for each other. Were there any halfbreeds that were half Galra half Altean? 

And was there any species compatibility. Could they even have offspring? It might be useful to have this information for scientific knowledge. 

"Arin is my mate, I just know it," Ki'a said without looking away from the young man. 

"So, dad was your mate, and yet Ki'a isn't his," Keith said. "Who's her father?" 

"A dick head who used me," Kalle said. "But Eric was and is my husband. Whether he is alive or dead, he is my mate. Ki'a's father was a raping asshole. And one of the few people I've killed."

(Credit in art)


	12. Helping Those in Need

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fucking chapter got deleted before it got posted so it's late!

Shiro's PoV:

When Coran landed the Castle of Lions, more of the refugees and insurgents entered the open plateau we had landed our lions in. Allura went to the entrance of the Castle and I followed her. The others followed closely. Kalle and Ki'a were the only ones that we knew enough to allow inside the castle.

Coran was shocked to hear that there were several different species all mixed into the group, but more shocked to hear that there were some of his people still left. Only he didn't let that slow hI'm down. In fact it see,ed more willing to help now that he knew he wasn't half of the rest of his species. He worked with the most gleeful smile that I've ever seen him wear.

It was good to see him like that instead of stressed over helping those in need. 

We went to the infirmary first to grab the medical supplied that we kept there when someone wasn't injured enough to use a Cryopod. Next step we grabbed a lot of the potches of water we drank after training. We also packed some food goo. We also packed some utensils and bowls to put the food in.

Hunk, Allura, and I did most of the heavy lifting of the boxes of food and water. Coran organized the food distributions. Lance and Pidge were handing out the food and water. Keith took the medical supplies to their infirmary. I carried the boxes to the cave they used for storage space. It was not really attached to the rest of the cave system but still close by with a covered path way. The covers were just old blankets or carpets sewn together. 

It was darker and cooler in here than in the other caves. The others had doors, windows and candles that smelled of animal fat when burned to let or create light. But this one only had the one door to enter with something to actually block of the front that wasn't flimsy like the curtains they used for their homes.

I sat down the boxes and walked out and watched this hidden community. It was quite interesting really. I leaned against the cave entrance and just watched with my arms folded. Children of all species played together with only their mouths covered so the sand didn't get in their lipungs when the wind blew.

Women watched them with keen eyes and light in their eyes, happy their kids were safe and had a home to live. Some men were collecting the supplies we gave out, others sharpened weapons similar to those I used in the gladiator ring. 

Seeing these people, the Galra especially, all raising families, some fighting against their own Empire brought another memory to the surface. 

* * *

_I was strapped to the gurney they had me on. It was different from the gurney's they had on Earth. It was harder and black and purple. They had my legs spread ever so slightly, and my arms at my sides. I struggled against the Doctors and what I'm assuming are nurses._

_"What are you doing?" I demanded. "You already took my damn arm! What more do you want from me!?" They ignored my plea's. One of the two who wore a full face mask put a needle to my arm and injected me with what I think are tranquilizers._

_The one Galra who didn't wear a mask spoke._ _"You can go, I can handle it from here."_

_The others nodded and turned their backs on him to leave the small room._

_What happened next surprised me._

_He knocked them unconscious. He rushed back to me and messed with my new arm. "We need to hurry. They'll know I'm the one who released you. They're looking for the Blue Lion of Voltron on your planet," He spoke in a rush. "If you can't make it there, go to the coordinates that I am inputting into your arms memory card." I was still confused._

_"Why are you helping me? Who are you?" I asked._

_"Ulaz," He answered simply as he unstrapped me._

_"I'm Shiro," I said as the world around me turned fuzzy and started to tilt slightly. I grabbed onto him and tried to stay upright. "But you still never answered why your helping me." He sighed._

_"Because the universe needs you of it hopes to ever become free from Zarkon's reign of terror," Ulaz says as he leads me out of the door. I tried hard to stay focused and follow him. He had to help me stay upright several more times as we made our way down corridors and through several doors._

_We didn't run into anyone until we got to the pods. Droids blocked out path to them. Ulaz took down most of them, and I took down one or two while still struggling with the drugs in my system._

_"Remember, the universe needs Voltron, and you need to find it before Zarkon does. Please make haste to your world. The Blade of Marmora is with you," He said as he opened the pod and pushed me in. The door closed behind me as I fell onto my back._

_A sharp pain shot through me, but I didn't dare stand. The pod was already moving. And fast. It very well could be going light speed._

_The drugs were quickly taking my consciousness. I tried as hard as I could to stay awake, but sadly, it was a losing battle as everything went black._

* * *

The Blade of Marmora.

I wondered if it was another resistance group. Or if this was apart of them. I'd have to ask Kalle if she knew of them. I sighed and quickly made my way to the main cave system. I looked for Kalle and found her with Arin, the young Altean man who was now conscious. 

He looked up at me with bright sea green eyes. He smiled at me.

"Oh, hello," He said with a slight Altean accent. I quickly found out that Alteans sounded slightly British. 

I smiled back. "Arin, right?" He nodded. "I'm Shiro, the Paladin and leader of Voltron," I said. His eyes widened. 

"Voltron is real? I thought that it was an old Altean tale that Mothers told their children to help them sleep at night," He said. I gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Trust me, Arin, Voltron is quite real. Princess Allura will tell you more when she come back to check on you," I said. His eyebrows scrunched in confusion. 

"King Alfor's daughter?" He asked. "But the Royal Family passed 10,000 years ago, leaving no Heir to lead or ancestors when they fled the Wrath of the Black Paladin, Zarkon." After he spoke, it was a deafening silence. Kalle stared, wide eyed at the young blonde Altean. It was like she couldn't believe he told me.

"What did you just say?" I asked slowly and in a deathly calm voice. His quivered on the bed.

"That our families escaped the Wrath of the Black Paladin, Zarkon," His voice squeaked at the final word. I clenched my teeth and ran my fingers through my hair. 

Screw the Blade of Marmora, I needed answers from our dear Princess. I turned and stormed out of the room in search for Allura. The young man called for me but I ignored him. Kalle just watched me go.

Why didn't she speak the entire time I was there?

She was on the ship still carrying boxes to the cave. "We need to talk about this little secret you've been hiding about the old Paladins, Princess," I said in a tight voice right into her ear. She sucked in a breath and nearly dropped the boxes she held.

"How did you find out?" She asked.

"No, you tell me why you hid it from us first and I'll tell you who told me. That's how it works now, got it?" I wanted to yell the words, but I didn't. She nodded.

"Okay," Was her only response 

"Your room, when we finish here." And with that I stormed off again, leaving her in her silence.

With the Blade of Marmora currently forgotten, I continued to work in simmering anger. This was going to get very difficult.


	13. The Original Black Paladin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the last chapter of this one and I'll start another soon, one that's probably going to be longer. I hope that this eventually gets liked and some comments.

Shiro's PoV: 

After all of the supplies we could spare were put away, I went to find Allura.

She was waiting outside of her room like I told her to meet me. My anger has wavered for a moment seeing her standing there looking ashamed of herself. But I had to be firm in this situation. 

I sighed and stood in front of her waiting to open the door. She was fidgeting with her hands.

She opened her door with a hiss from it. I stepped passed her and she followed. The door closed automatically and we were alone to discuss the bomb that was essentially dropped on my head.

"When we're you going to tell us that Zarkon was the original Black Paladin?" I asked, cutting directly to the chase. She stood taller and squared her shoulders.

"I wanted to wait until you all had a bond with your lions before you found out the dark past of the paladins. I'd thought that you'd not want to become apart of this team if you knew who had the lion before you," She had admitted.

I ran my fingers through my hair. "I still think you should have told us the truth. How can we be a team if someone is hiding that big of a secret?" I asked, softening my tone. She looked away, clearly still ashamed of herself.

"I understand. I'll tell the others tonight either before or during dinner, which ever is more convenient for all the Paladins," She said. I nodded.

"Good. And if there is any other secret of the Paladins you are hiding, please tell us then too, okay?" I asked. She nodded, still not looking at me. "Thank you Princess," I hugged her and left her room.

It hissed closed behind me. 

* * *

We were invited to stay for a while and get to know our new allies. Pidge sat there talking to one of the Altean boys that looked about her age. Maybe a year or two older.

They were talking animatedly about something, but I couldn't hear over the noise of the full room. But I bet it was over something to do with technology or science. They both looked rather happy.

I smiled. I knew she had a small crush over me, but she was far too young. I was glad there was finally someone her age to talk to. She needed it. She needed to get along with teens _her_ age, not boys older than her she's stuck with.

Allura sat next to Kalle talking to her and Arin. Ki'a was with them, but was just fussing over Arin, making sure his stitching wasn't tearing.

I saw Lance and Keith arguing about something. Then Keith said something that caused Lance to shut up and turn bright red immediately. Keith crossed his arms and gave him a smug smile. I was glad those two were getting their heads out if their asses and were finally getting past all that sexual tension that filled the room whenever they argued.

Then Lance smirked and reached across the table and pulled Keith into a deep kiss. Good for them. They were good for each other. Lance kept Keith from running into danger, and Keith made sure Lance's ego didn't go through the roof.

When they broke apart, Keith was red and slightly wobbly. He definitely has an erection. I laugh to myself.

I smirked and looked for Hunk. He was talking to some of the Galra and Fae that were making food, and handing it out. He looked like he was helping. He loved cooking and helping others so I wasn't surprised in the slightest.

I looked back to Allura and she was looking towards me. I nodded towards her and she stood up, grabbing everyone's attention. 

"Hello everyone. I, as you know, am Princess Allura of Altea. I work with the Paladins of Voltron in order to liberate the universe from Emperor Zarkon's reign of terror. But there are things you may not know. Such as the identity of the Paladins of old," She said. The refugees and other Paladins murdered amongst themselves. 

"Now, Shiro, our new Black Paladin, already knows this, but Zarkon, Zarkon was the original Black Paladin," There was an uproar in just the Paladins. No big surprise. But no one else was surprised. "And he worked alongside my fatheroom, King Alfor, the Red Paladin," That was news to me. The entire room was surprised at that. "But he wasn't the original Red. That was a Galra by the name of Marmora." Marmora? Like the Blade of Marmora? We're they named after him? Most likely, due to the name.

"The others were good friends of theirs. Deihara, an amazing pilot, and huge flirt was the original Blue Paladin. She will be missed. Huraile was the original Yellow Paladin, and my mother Lairuel was the Green Paladin. They all worked together to protect the universe in need," She said, folding her hands together.

"And Zarkon, he married and Altean woman and bore a son together. This woman was my Aunt, Alkuria. So Both Zarkon and his son Lotor, are my extended family," She said. "There, now there are no secrets between me and my Paladins." She sat down and smiled at me. I smiled back, pleased she shared more than I asked her too.

Kalle stood next. "We knew Zarkon's connection to the Black lion. But we did not know that he was your uncle. Nor that Prince Lotor was your cousin. We try to stay out of thevery affairs of the Royal Galrean family. All I know is that he hadn't been the same since his wife passed in an unfortunate accident," She said. "And just so there is no secrets between me and our new allies, I'd like to add my own," She looked around at her people.

"I have found the son I have been missing for the last 17 years. He is the new Red Paladin. His name is Kei, but prefers to be called but his human name Keith," She said, smiling lovingly at her son. "I did not abandon him. I sent him to live on his father's world since I didn't want him to be killed without mercy by the Galra. I fell in love with his human father nearly the instant I met him.

"He was unlike any creature I had come across previously, and I had retrieved word from our other allied, The Blade of Marmora, that they have found Eric Kogane, alive but injured. Along with two other human males. Both brunette. They go by the names Matthew and Samuel Holt."

Pidge was out of her seat in an instant.

"What?"


End file.
